


A Twisted World

by lets_start_writing



Category: Disney - All Media Types, Epic Mickey (Video Games), Twisted-Wonderland (Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Cover Art, Crossover, F/M, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gen, Multiple Endings, NRC
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:21:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 54,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25085326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lets_start_writing/pseuds/lets_start_writing
Summary: Lyla Mousley, a girl who was raised by her strict father, has landed into a school that is said to have a high quality education system. She wants to make her father proud but her heart lays else where and wishes for a more exciting and adventurous life. Until one day after she wishes upon a star that shined brightly in the night sky she was thrown in the world of Twisted Wonderland. The headmaster of Night Raven College gives her a new role to help the students to learn to be more cooperative with each other. Struggling to adapt to the magical world she was a stranger to she makes friends and allies and starts an advetnure of her own making memories along the way. But what she doesn't realize that there was a huge purpose to her arrival in the magical world and that there was a much more darker presence that was plotting a evil plan.
Relationships: Twisted Wonderland characters/Original Character
Comments: 23
Kudos: 64





	1. Be Careful What you Wish For

**Author's Note:**

> (Author's Note: Hello dear readers! This is the first ever fic I am posting on this site and I'm really excited about it. This fic is actually a rewrite of a fic that I am currently writing on tumblr. I thought it would be best to change the main platform I write on because tumblr kept deleting my posts that I spended hours writing before I even post them for some reason so I'm here now. I honestly don't know if it's just me thats getting this errors or not... Before we get in this story I want you to know that this fic will slowly tie in with the the world of Epic Mickey and this will be a story that will have mulitple endings at the end of it. Oh and your always welcome to comment feedback for the fic or just comment about the fandom! Well with that aside I hope you enjoy this fic lovely readers!)

‘This school will be great for you sweetheart. This place has great education, great dorm rooms. It’s going to be perfect for you.’  
That was what Lyla’s father has said from the start when he recommended this so called ‘great’ school. Lyla could care less of where she would go. It would be all the same. After her mother had left her dad he was a broken man. Desperate to maintain the family he only had, he made it his goal to make Lyla’s life a successful one. He did everything he could from seeing how she did her homework, assignments, school projects. Their grades were at the top. It was tiring at sometimes having to work hard for her life but she couldn’t let herself to hate her dad. After all this was all for her right? To live more comfortable in the future she had. So that’s why she complied. She was happy when her dad was proud of her. It was how he raised her. And thanks to her dad that’s why she was blunt, straight to the point, smart even. The down side to it? It was hard for her to make friends.  
‘Did you hear the rumor that said she was the reason why that one student suddenly transferred?’  
Some student was whispering at the library not realizing that the quite of the library made all the sounds more clear to the ear even being a table away.  
‘Yeah and someone told me she just talked alone to them and the student just went away like that. Scary don’t you think?’  
Idiots she thought as she gripped the book in her hands. They didn’t even know the whole story to it. They had only talked to that one student because she saw them harass another student in class. After collecting much evidence of the student it was then that the student transferred to another school in fear of their reputation. Only few knew about it. A few teachers and the victim student. The victim didn’t want to make a big situation out of it, so it never really got out to the others at school. Lyla had respected the decision and never talked about it.  
‘Yeah and I heard from another friend that they used to talk to them but her comments are so straight forward and blunt like she has no filter so she just stopped talking to them.’  
‘She reminds me of one of those villains in a story.’  
A villain huh? Would they really think that if they truly knew the whole story? If they even really bothered to care that is. She was well known to the school as the one that people can’t really easily approach despite her cute appearance that reminded many people of a little mouse. But she knew she can’t really change that about her so she didn’t try to think much about those comments regarding her.  
Being raised by her dad she had to try everything at her best and live up to his expectations. She loved him and cared for him but even for her, she knew dearly to her heart this isn’t what she truly wanted for her life. Life wasn’t all about getting into a good school and landing in a well-paying job after all. She was bored of her boring repeating life. Maybe that’s why at a young age and even now she liked fairy tales and Disney movies. She always adored the kind of stories they portrayed. They had magic in them. And she hoped that life was full of it. But soon she got to know life wasn’t like that at all. There weren’t talking animals, no magic that can make miracles, no prince charmings that sweep princesses off their feet. That was the cruel reality that children never knew when they were young. Yet she had hope that somewhere in this world that magic that makes dreams come true really did exist even if she was an young adult. Once her father said she was too pure hearted and she needed to grow out of those childish things to live in this cruel world. But is it really bad to stay pure hearted? Wanting a life of adventure and day dreaming of a land of magic before her? She sighed to herself as she leaned in her hands looking out the window not knowing if her thoughts on liking Disney movies and dreaming was a bad thing or not.

For now she was at her new dorm room at the new school, already tired from moving her stuff and the suffocating introductions for the new students that were coming in this year. The sun had already set and revealed the dark night sky. Opening the window for fresh air they looked up to the sky. In the dark ink like sky that was clear she could see the stars align ever so nicely and in the grass of the campus there were fire flies gliding in the air gracefully. It was such a rare sight to see. She had to take pictures of this to send to her dad. Just before she retired back to her room to take her camera something in the sky had caught her eye. There in the night sky was a particular set of stars that shined brighter than the others. There were two that caught her eye. One big star and a smaller one(located slightly to the left where she could see) that shined together in union. Strangely seeing the set of stars made her have the urge to suddenly wish for something. She knew it was a silly act. It was not like wishing on a star could really make her wish true can it? Yet she felt like she had to. Taking her hands together and closing her eyes she had made a wish she had secretly in her heart.  
‘Please let me experience something exciting in my life for once. One like something in stories or fairy tales maybe?’  
She opened her eyes to see the set of stars still there. She felt rather silly and embarrassed after that. Rubbing her eyes from the sleepiness that was now dawning on her she finally retreated back to her room and closed the window.

Little did she know after her light hearted wishing the two stars sparkled brightly for a moment like they responded to her wish. The small tv in her room turned on with static. The girl was still peacefully asleep by the time oblivious of what was happening around her. When the static finally subsided there were two little figures that were hard to make out appeared on the screen.

"Do you really think she's really the one that can save us?"  
A voice spoke quietly beyond the screen not wanting to wake the girl that was still sleeping.  
"Of course I'm sure of it! A little firefly friend of mine told me she was another version of our little buddy after all and a pure hearted one at that!"  
Another voice chimed in as well with a hushed voice.  
"But do you really think it's best to send her to 'there' of all places?"  
The voice that spoke first said with concern.  
"She will learn how to adapt. And besides, I think she can really bring change to that place."  
"If your really sure pal."  
The first voice said with an unsure tone. Lyla turned in her sleep and groaned at the little noise that interrupting her sleep but thankfully for the voices, that were holding their breath for a moment, she didn't wake up due to the tiring day she had. The voices let out a sigh(that was like a cartoonish phwu sigh? I don't know how to describe it well...) of relief.  
"I think for now it's best to send her to the wizards place first."  
"Lets just hope that this all goes well as we planned."  
The last voice said nervously. Then just like magic the tv started to produce a stream of light from it's screen. The stream of sparkling light swirled around in the room making it full of light which leaked from her window to the outside. And within a few seconds of the light swirling around her room it bursted into nothing. But as a result Lyla was gone from her bed in a flash. No proof of her existence except for the warmth of her body that was left in her bed. As the girl vanished like thin air a flock of crows that were near her window cawed and started to fly away in the night sky.

**She should have been careful of what she had wished for**


	2. Welcome to the Villains World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers! Since this is the last year before I graduate high school teachers are giving us a lot of work to do and we have to write essays and stuff for college so updates on the fic will be slow. But don't worry, once the busy weeks are over I'll be back to frequently writing about the fics. Enjoy chapter two readers!  
> (Update 2020/10/16: Smoothed out some of the writing a bit. I didn't realize I had so much spelling mistakes in this since I wrote this pass midnight.)

_Long ago, a brave but rather mischievous mouse had discovered my world for forgotten toons. The mouse had faced many challenges and choices but making friends and allies along the way in the end he saved Wasteland not once but twice by his brave acts. After his adventures in Wasteland he had returned to his world not returning to Wasteland for some time. As Wasteland was in dear need for a hero once again my realm was occupied with another living soul. But instead of the brave mouse a new curious young girl had stumbled upon the magic brush instead._

This had to be a dream. Otherwise how did she even end up on a floating rock in the middle of nowhere? She stood up from the flat rock as she wobbly took a stand. Luckily the rock didn't seem to budge at the moment. And just as she collected her fogged up head from a little headache some rocks had gathered in front of her to form a platform that gone up. Her eyes followed the trail that kept rounding up until at the very end there was a large rock that looked like the end. 

'This is one strange dream I'm having.'

She thought as she took a step forward with courage. This was a dream after all and she was curious what was at the end of it. With every step she took the scene around her looked like it was reacting to her presences as shooting stars glided across the sky or stars started to twinkle with a radiate glow. She marveled at the scene as she went up step by step. Thus, she reached to the top. At the top of the pathway she saw that in the middle of the large floating rock was just a single paint brush awaiting her. There was a stream of light surrounding it, wrapping around it as it circled around in the air. But as she came in closer the stream of light started to go toward her wrapping her instead and pulling her in closer to the item before her. Stumbling forward at the force she halted in front of the brush that was still in the air. She just looked at it at awe in silence as something or some feeling drawn her into it. She didn't really know why but she felt like she had to take it. Unconsciously she reached out for the delicate brush with her hand. And as she had the brush in her hand the ground bellow her started to rumble. As she gripped hard on the brush the ground had started to collapse under her. She screamed as she fell with the ground. And just like that everything started to go into darkness in front of her until she couldn't see anything.

She opened her eyes once again to be greeted by darkness with a gasp from her. Her heart was still beating from the fall that seemingly happen in her dream. Her body felt tired and awaken by sleep the very moment. So it was a dream she thought as she rubbed her eyes trying to adjust to the darkness to see. Maybe she woke up earlier than usual for the first day of school.  
'That was a rather strange dream... realistic too...'

Lyla thought to herself as she yawned and stretched her arms out. It was only when she hit something with her hand that she noticed something was terribly wrong. Her tired eyes shot open to see everything was pitch black and it was clear that she was not in the comfort of her dorm room anymore. A thought came to her that this might be a prank that the older classmates pull on the new freshmen here at school. She quickly reached out trying to find her glasses to see clearly. When she finally found it and wore the pair she noticed she was no longer in her dorm but rather in a box. The box felt like it was covered in soft velvet under her skin. And now feeling how the box was shaped and how well it fit her body made her heart drop in panic. She was in a coffin. Questions started to flood her mind. Why was she even in a coffin? Did someone think she was dead or something? Where was she even anyway? Was this some sick prank someone pulled on her? Was the coffin buried in the ground already?  
“Hello? IS ANYONE OUT THERE?”  
She shouted out while banging her hands on the lid praying that she wasn’t buried alive. She had tried everything like kicking on the lid and trying to push it with force but the thing didn't even budge. After a few minutes of shouting and using up her strength to open the lid she gave up and tried to find another way out of this. 

Why was the lid getting warm all of a sudden?

**Baam!**

The lid of the coffin suddenly went off with a blue flame. With the impact Lyla closed her eyes shut and braced herself.  
“WHHAaaat? You aren’t supposed to be awake now!”  
A surprised voice said from bellow. Lyla opened her eyes and looked down to the ground to see a rather strange looking creature. The thing had a cat like appearance with gray and white fur. And strangely, it had a blue tinted flame that came out of each of his ears.  
“A talking raccoon?”  
Lyla blurted out in pure shock. The animal looked rather annoyed by the comment frowning as he crossed his arms.  
“I’m not a raccoon you idiot! I am the great Grim! And you will respect me as that!”  
Grim had put his paw on his puffed out chest with a cocky face. Lyla could only look at Grim in a daze, trying to find out if this is a dream or not by pinching her cheek. Unfortunately the pain existed, meaning that this was not a dream like she hoped for. Ignoring her daze the creature named Grim went back to his senses and stared challenging at the girl.  
“Now enough of this! Hurry up and give me those clothes! Otherwise.... I’ll roast ya!”  
Roast her? She got into some crazy situation and now she was threatened by a strange animal to give up her clothes(now that she noticed her usual sleepwear was replaced by a long dark robe with a rather large hood covering her face. She shuddered at the thought of someone had to change her into this) or to be put in flames now? She wasn’t going to die in flames easily like that!

By getting out of the coffin she made a mad dash pass the little monster and darted into the closest building she could find. A monster of such a small size couldn't keep up with her forever can it? By crossing a courtyard she found herself entering a building that looked very old. She ran through the hallways, footsteps clicking on the floor with every step, not knowing where she would end up to eventually. The next thing she knew she was in a library with flying books much to her surprise. Panting for each breath as she ran through the huge book shelf's she reached the other side and tried to open the door.  
‘Dammit it’s locked!’  
She desperately jabbed at the silver door knob but it was no use. Following hot in her trail with his short legs Grim had finally caught up with panting breaths himself.  
“*pant pant* That’s it! You asked for it human!”  
Grim declared as he puffed out his chest once again indicating he was about to unleash his blue fire. Lyla was about to prepare for what was about to come but a loud slap of something and a yelp from the creature left her stunned in the spot. She opened her eyes to see a man with a odd looking crow mask with the matching attire. The man had whipped the poor thing as it shrieked.  
"I finally found you little young bird! The number of students that should have arrived didn't match and I being the kind headmaster of this school personally went out to find you."  
The man put a hand to his chest clearly proud of his status.  
"You should know the rules that familiars on the school grounds are forbidden."  
His voice suddenly got serious as he eyes the monster that was now struggling in his hands.  
"I'm not a familiar!"  
Grimm struggled in the mans grip.  
"I don't even know what that thing is."  
She answered in a daze as she slumped to the door partly relieved that her life wasn't ended by flames just like that and tried to make sense of what was happening. The headmaster just shook his head as he looked at her confused and dazed state.  
"Now we wasted much time to find you. We can't postpone the ceremony any longer young bird."  
He had taken her by hand and guided her rather forcefully.  
"Wait! Who are you? What is this place even?"  
She demanded to know where this place was as she tried to stand her ground but her efforts were in vain as the man in front of her was much stronger than her as he dragged her along. The man gave her a strange look with his glowing orbs that quickly turned to pity.  
"You must have been in quite the daze if you forgot the reason you are here and not know who I am. Do not worry young bird you will be ok as time passes by."  
She continued to try asking what this all was about but the one who introduced himself as the headmaster just took it as her still being in daze. The headmaster guided her in the dimly lit hallways one of his clawed hands on the girl and the other holding on to the little monster as he let out muffled screams. From the walk Lyla started to slowly realize the very building she had entered was a school as she passed by class rooms as she was guided. It had a old looking theme to it which a lot of it reminded her of Hogwarts from Harry Potter. She continued to question all of this as she followed swiftly among the campus.

"Why is this taking so long?"  
Riddle Rosehearts impatiently tapped his foot on the stone floor as he looked at his silver chained pocket watch. The entrance ceremony should have ended twenty minutes ago if his schedule was right. If he wanted to end everything just in time for the orientation for the new Heartslabyul students time was running thin. As his patience as well.  
"Please Riddle it's only been twenty minutes since headmaster Crowley went after this student that was missing. But to have the nerve to run away from the entrance ceremony on the first day like this I wonder who this student might be."

Azul who was right next to Riddle throughout the whole ceremony had a thoughtful look as he looked at the door behind him. Just as the boys in the room continued to chatter it was cut short as the dark wooden entrance door opened with a loud audible creak. Lyla had entered the room following closely to the headmaster as she was guided(forcefully against her will). She looked at her new surroundings to see that the room had flouting coffins and in the center of it was a mirror floating in the air as well which had a eerie green glow to it. And there were people that were wearing the same robes as she wore making it look like a group gathering. The headmaster had lead her in the room earning a few stares and glances to her way being guided by the headmaster himself.  
"Rule #134 of the Queen of Hearts always be at time, sharp and punctual. Even if it's just simple rule students should follow them and be punished if they were to break them."  
Lyla turned her head to the annoyed voice that clearly mentioned her in his words. By taking a glance under the rather large hood that she wore there she saw a boy with rose red hair. He had a cute looking appearance but by judging how he sharply glared at her she guessed that his looks weren’t everything there was to him. Beside him was a boy with silver hair that was trying to get a good look of her under the hood(which she pulled down to hide her face) and by how he looked he reminded her of a businessman. On the other side of the group was a boy that Lyla could only describe as beautiful as she first saw him, with smooth blond hair with purple highlights. And with that there was a boy with tan skin who had a tail and ears that resembled a lion(after she saw a talking raccoon(?) she quickly realized it was best to stop trying to question things much anymore to save her sanity) who was glaring at her as well with his green eyes. This is a room with rather strange people she thought as she continued to follow the headmaster from behind as she felt that she wasn't even welcome here.  
“Now present yourself in front of the mirror.”  
The man in the crow mask gestured at the mirror that was floating at the center of the room. After her strange encounter with this strange man she thought she didn't really have much of a choice but to follow his orders. After all that questioning and plead for answers of where she was the man just didn't seem to even listen to her any ways. She would had to play along with this now if she wanted any answers on where she was. She slowly walked up to the mirror and got on the raised platform. And as she did a white mask like face had appeared in the mirror.  
“Show yourself.”  
The mirror simply requested. She caught the drift that the mirror was referring to the hood that was covering most of her face. She was still not sure of this whole thing but now she just had to play along. With a slow pace she pulled down the hood. Her short shoulder length dark ink like hair dropped to either side of her back. Her face was now exposed to everyone in the room and it seemed like her presents had surprised the students in the room since they started to whisper the instant she dropped the hood back. Self-consciously she adjusted her round glasses to her nose trying to calm her beating heart by looking only at the mirror. The headmaster on the other hand didn't seem that surprised to see her unlike the other students that were in the room.  
“Night Raven college is an all-boys school. But if the carriage has brought a girl to be a fellow student of this place then so be it. Continue with the sorting.” The headmaster announced to the students as they chatter continued.  
Now that the headmaster mentioned it Lyla looked slightly behind her to see the group that was behind her. There was indeed no girls in the room at all.  
‘Great more unwanted attention for this.’  
Lyla could only nervously gulp and look back to the mirror in hopes that this ‘ceremony’ will be over soon.  
“The shape of thy soul is...”  
It paused. The face in the mirror squinted their eyes at her like he was looking for something that was not really there. The face frowned.  
“I do not know.” The mirror said  
“Come again?”  
The headmaster looked at the mirror shocked while Lyla could only look helplessly back for help. What did it mean by it didn’t know how her soul shaped like?  
“I sense no magic on them. Their colorless, shapeless. There for, she has no place within any dormitory.”  
As the mirror announced his claim the students whispers started in chains of loud chatter. Grim who was still in captive had finally wiggled out of the headmasters grasp as he was stunned.  
“Then I’ll take their place! Unlike that human I can use actually magic!”  
He loudly proclaimed as he puffed out his chest to use his fire magic. Lyla having to know what he can fully do quickly ran off the platform. And the red hair boy having to notice what the little monster was about to do he as well went into a run to get away from the damage that was soon to be caused.  
“Everyone take cover!”  
The fire quickly spread out in the room creating chaos within it. The blue flames spread out in the room making the boys run in panic, few unlucky ones having caught in the flames.  
"WHHHAaaaa HHHOTTTTT! SOMEONE HELP MMEEEEEE!"  
One with boy with red eyes had passed Lyla with speed as his rear was on fire. That poor boy. She could only look at the boy who desperately tried to put out the fire on his butt as she was trying to take cover herself.

**[OFF WITH THEIR HEAD!]**

A loud sharp voice cut in the chaotic hot air and with it the flames finally subsided. She overheard the red hair boy and silver hair boy talking about something called ‘unique magic’. Talking animals, a strange school and now magic? She was truly in a mess of a situation. The last thing she saw was Grim being in a heart shaped collar and being dragged out by the boy with red hair. Though the creature had given her nothing but trouble she couldn't help but feel bad. That little creature seem to just desperately want a way in this school.  
"All of you are dismissed until further notice! Return to your dorm rooms!"  
With the panic settled the boys have started to clear out the room at the headmasters orders. Just as the students cleared out, a boy with dark hair that had a magenta streaks on it had caught Lyla's eyes. He was staring at her as well having a smile on his face that she felt uneasy about not knowing the full motive of it. Not knowing how to react properly she only stare back awkwardly back with a tilted head. It didn't seem like the commotion from before had fazed him at all, rather he looked like the situation just had gotten more interesting for him as he giggled at her reaction and went away with the other students. Once the students were all out the headmaster looked straightly to the confused girl.  
"We can't have a student who has no magic attend this school. I am deeply sorry but I will have to send you home by magic mirror."  
Hearing those words Lyla could have never been more relieved. She was finally going to get out of this bizarre situation. Just one crazy adventure was enough for her this day. As the headmaster told her to think of home she tried to think of her home back at her town with her father and then the headmaster chanted a spell. But nothing happened.  
“Nowhere.”  
The mirror his claim once more with a stern voice.  
“Eh?”  
“The place they belong is nowhere in this world”  
The magic mirror claimed again.  
“Unbelievable things happening more than twice today! Not only magic-less but belonging nowhere in this world? Who are you exactly?"  
The headmaster stared down to the young girl who was confused and scared.  
“That's why I was trying to ask you where I was for the past few minutes while I was being forcefully dragged by you here! How many times do I have to tell you I don’t know anything about this place or why I am even here!”  
Having enough of this weird place Lyla said her thoughts out loud with an irritated voice. Taken back from the young girl’s sudden outburst the head master only coughed.  
“Oh d-did you. Care to explain all of this for me young bird?”

  
After a long explanation of her situation the headmaster thought it was best to go to the library to find anything about her world she claims to live in.

"Earth? I never heard of that place at all. Are you sure that place is where you claim to live?"

"I'm telling you that's the truth! I don't even know a single thing about this 'Twisted Wonderland' that you keep telling me about sir!"

She claimed back as she tried to make sense of everything. After a long research he reached to a conclusion that she was somehow warped from her world landing here in ‘Twisted Wonderland’.

"Do you have anything left that could tell us who you are? Cellphone, licenses or any kind of identification?" the headmaster asked to the girl. She started to go through her pockets of the robe she was wearing. To her disappointment every single one was empty. She didn't have her cellphone or wallet on her. But as she reached to the side of her rode she felt a little thing that was sticking out of a hidden pocket inside her robe. Clawing the fabric away and pulling out the little thing, she got it in front of her line of sight. It was the paint brush she had seen in her dreams before she awoke in the coffin. How did it get in there she wondered as she looked at the thing.

"A paint brush? That doesn't help us at all doesn't it?" the headmaster said to her.

Shaking her thoughts she quickly put it back to the hidden patch in her robe making a mental note to herself to check the brush closer later as she had more important things to worry about. With her belongings gone and no evidence that her world exists it would take time to find a way back to her world so the headmaster suggests her to stay in a unused dormitory in the mean time which she thanked the headmaster for gratefully. Being guided once again by the man that introduced himself as headmaster Dire Crowley she had reached a old worn building with a iron fence surrounding it. And in the distance she could make out a old worn building. By how the dorm looked it reminded her of a old haunted house she once visited when she was young.  
"You will have to live here temporary until I find a way to send you back."  
"It has a lot of charm."  
She tried to not be so rude about it as she stated the condition of the dorm. She was led in the dormitory and was left alone as the headmaster went to bring her some food and as well for something that she need for her temporary stay. She roamed the empty halls of the dorm. Everything there was either broken or worn down. She doubted that there was even a well working bathroom here if it was this worn down. She reached the massive living room that was covered with cobwebs and dust. Water occasionally dripping on the floor from the ceiling.  
‘Well if this place was clean and fixed up, this place could be a decent place to live in.’  
Just as she thought of that there was a crash in the room. She looked back to see a little gray thing struggle to get up from the ground. It was Grim again.  
“How did you even come in here?”  
“I climbed through the window duh! I’m not going to go that easily from trying to get in this school!”  
Lyla just pinched her nose bridge already having a massive headache. It was already a crazy day for her and she didn't want to deal with anymore trouble than she already hand in her hands.  
“Just don’t make any trouble here got it?”  
Giving up trying to get rid of the monster she just went for the staircase. Until she was met with a white pale looking thing that was right in front of her. She cautiously backed up with Grimm clinging to her leg behind her.  
“Hehehehe. What is this? New comers at the abandoned dormitory?”  
It was ghosts! Just as she backed away other ghosts were approaching the two with mischievous looks. Yelping as the ghost approached him Grim started to aimlessly fire his magic to the ghosts in fear as he closed his eyes. It wasn't really surprise when he missed every time, almost setting things on fire around the wooden furniture and floor around him.  
"If you aim with your eyes closed like that your going to burn this whole damn place down with us!"  
Lyla shouted to the little monster with concern for their life at that point as she backed up against the wall with Grim while just stomped his feet in frustration.  
"Then what do you want me to do?"  
She had to think fast.  
"Just aim and fire where I give you directions!"  
Following quickly to her orders he fired his attacks to the ghosts as she directed him. The last group of the ghost have finally fled away and the two pumped their fists in triumph with their result.  
“For a human your kind of good at this!”  
“Your not as half as bad as well Grim.”  
Lyla let got a sigh of relief as she flopped down to the floor. Only then she was startled as the doors slammed open to show Crowley in all his glory with some food in his hands.  
"The kind generous me has bought food-"  
He stopped his words as he saw Grimm frozen in middle of his triumph dance.  
"The monster has returned back? Hadn't you learned your lesson when you got kicked out?"  
The head master as about to catch Grim again but Lyla quickly interfered taking pity on the monster.  
“Wait! Can’t he just stay here with me?”  
Both the headmaster and Grimm got surprised at her sudden suggestion.  
“A monster in the dorms? That’s just ridiculous and never heard of!”  
“He helped getting rid of the ghosts here. And he really wants to get into your school.”  
“The monster helped you with the ghosts?”  
Crowley started muttering stuff by himself(something about her taming a monster and stuff) as he turned around leaving her and Grimm kind of concerned of what was going to happen. But then as the headmaster turned around to face the two, the concern only got bigger as they saw a huge grin on his face.  
“The kind and generous me has decided that the monster can stay. But-”  
He held up one clawed finger and paused for dramatic effect.  
“Since you both are freeloaders here, you two will have to do cleaning and maintenance around the college.”  
“What?!?”  
The two both exclaimed.  
“Don’t start complaining now young ones. You will have to pay me back in anyway you can if you don’t want to be sleeping in the cold streets now.”  
The two immediately shut up at his words. Having no place to go it was wise for them to be following his orders if they wanted a roof under their head and as well for a warm bed to sleep in. The head master turned to see Lyla with a serious look on his face.  
“You have to keep an eye on this monster at all times. He will be your responsibility and if he makes any trouble you will be punished as well. You understand?”  
His words came out strict and harsh. She felt her back straighten up just by thinking of the punishment.  
“Understood sir.”  
“Good! Now have some rest! You two have a long day of cleaning the school tomorrow!”  
The headmaster chimed with a swish of his cape and went for the exit. Now that the two were alone in the living room of the dorm were was an awkward silence setting in.  
“I came here to learn! Not get a job as a janitor! And I have to babysat by you of all people?”  
Lyla shot an unamused look at the monster as she walked to the stair case of the dorm. She looked down at the worn down place. This place definitely needed a good clean as well for repairs in well basically everywhere.  
“I have a name you know. My name is Lyla. And don’t you even dare start complaining now. You’re only still here because of me and you got a shot at being in this school. Be at least thankful for that."  
Grimm just grumbled in defeat and looked down to the well worn floor.  
“Guess I do have to thank you for that.”  
As he quietly muttered his words Lyla just gave out a little smile. She knew if she pressed him further she would damage his pride so she let it pass.  
“You’re welcome.”  
She simply replied and retreated to find a bed. And when she did found one she flew herself to it and looked at the old ceiling trying to comprehend how she even got here in this crazy world in the first place. Then it hit her. The stars that she wished upon last night in her dorm room. Did wishing on a star really have to do something with all this? Did it just grant her wish to have an adventure she wanted to have all this time? And then there was the brush that was in her robe pocket. She took the thing in her hand as she looked at it from bellow. The handle of the brush was painted in a elegant color of black that slightly shined in the moon light that leaked through the window. The brown brush at the end of it was soft to the touch and had a silver band that was well decorated around the part where the brush and wood met. It had a rather thick brush at the end of it as well for the wooden part that was meant for holding. She took it in and gripped in one hand. It had a nice grip on it, rather too fitting. Just like it was meant for her. The young girl still had a lot of questions on her mind on why and how she had gotten into such a mess and why was this brush in her dreams had appeared right before her but she was only left with unanswered questions as she put the brush on a side table next to the bed. Even if she was weary of all of this she couldn't shake the unknown feeling of that the brush was really important and that she would have to keep it close to herself. Going back to the bed she slowly drifted off to a dreamless sleep with Grim by her side in the room of the Ramshackle Dorm. And like that her first day in Twisted Wonderland ended with a memorable impression for the others in the school.

But unknowingly in the distance of the dark forest that was near the dorm was a tall figure with horns hidden in the darkness. He looked at the once abandoned dorm that was now lit with light with interest as his green eyes shined with curiosity in the dark.  
 **“How interesting.”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true  
> -Cinderella-


	3. Play your Cards Right

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a little announcement! As this fic is going to be a long one with little side stories in between I thought it would be best to sort it in categories to avoid confusion.  
> -Main story: Will be listed with only titles in the chapter index  
> -Side stories: Will be listed as Side story: title. Not relevant to the main plot but just a little break from the main story. May last about 2~3 chapters  
> -Events: Will be listed as Event: title. This story will be my take on events like the fairy gala event or ghost marriage event. I could also add new events if any reader suggests something that I like(ideas are welcome in the comments!)  
> -Personal story: Will be only listed in the chapter index as a twst character name. This story will tell how Lyla(aka the mc) bonds with a certain character
> 
> And due to school work and exams coming up I will be on a hiatus until August 7. I also have a Tumblr blog(link below!) which I post fic links and other stuff. I also accept requests for writing(requests will be filled after I come back from the hiatus) now so if you are interested in checking it out or sending a request just click the link at the end of the chapter. I'll be back as soon as I finish my exams and go back to writing about the fics. Until then enjoy the new chapter dear readers!
> 
> (Update 2020/10/16: This chapter had so many spelling mistakes... I fixed most of them and smoothed it out but if there are anymore feedback is welcome!)

“Heheheheh If you two don’t get up now the headmaster will be very displeased.”  
A chilling voice said with a cackle. Lyla groaned as she turned away from the voice sinking more into the soft pillow and wanting more of her sweet tempting beauty sleep. But she was forced to wake up by a force that pushed her off from the edge of her bed with a surprised yelp. As she moaned in pain it was followed by more laughter. It was the ghosts from last night hovering before her. She frowned at the group as she rubbed her back.  
“Haven’t you guys learned your lesson from last night?”  
The skinny ghost just cackled more at the girl's word.  
“Can’t help that pranking living people are so fun to do! We hadn’t got visitors, let alone people that stayed here in a long time!”  
Shaking off the pain from her fall, Lyla got up from the wooden floor to see the paint brush that was placed on the side table. It was untouched. Having a strange feeling that she had to take it with her at all cost she placed the item at the pockets of her cloths. And seeing how the sun was up she realized the ghosts were right about having to wake up now. She turned her head to see that Grim was still asleep from the commotion talking something about tuna in his sleep. Then she went to Grim and shook the monster to wake him up from his slumber.  
“Wake up Grim!"  
“Wha? It’s morning already?”  
The little monster rubbed his sleepy half-lidded eyes only to be widen by the ghosts that now occupied the room. Just before he could lay any fire attacks out Lyla quickly interfered not wanting to deal with any fire damage today.  
“Hey! Calm down! I don’t think their here to hurt us. And I’m pretty sure they know the consequences if they _did_ intend to do that.”  
Lyla shot a warning of a glare at the group of ghosts making them flinch and remember about the events of last night. Looking at how the ghosts flinch at Lyla’s words Grim got up from the bed following close as the girl went out the door of the room shooting a cocky and proud face at the ghosts while at it. And as the two entered the living room it was then again that headmaster Dire Crowley came in the dorm with a slam of the door.  
“Oh good you two are both awake!”  
The head master chimed merrily as he came in the old dorm with a handful of books and papers in his arms. He sat them down at an old table that creaked at the weight. Lyla looked at the headmaster with hopeful eyes wishing for good news on the search for a way to get back to her world.  
“I’ve been looking through old books and files that have been in the library for centuries. Unfortunately they didn’t have a single word about this ‘Earth’ you live in.”  
Lyla’s hope had dropped at his words. Noticing her change of mood he put on a smile on his face as he tapped the books and paper.  
“Fear not my dear young girl my search will continue. As the generous and kind headmaster I am I will see the end to this matter. Until then I thought these books about Twisted Wonderland and maps would prove to be helpful for your stay here. And now for the other matter...”  
He looked up and down at Lyla who was still wearing the robes from last night’s opening ceremony. She now realized she didn’t even bother to change into new clothes since last nights events. The headmaster motioned them follow him outside the old worn dorm. Once they were outside the Ramshackle dorm they were lead to a path way that lead to the main building of Night Raven College. Grim and Lyla walked side by side following behind the headmaster as he walked ahead them. When Lyla had arrived in the new world she never really got a good look at the school since her arrival was in the dark of the night. Now seeing the inside of the massive school that was presented to her, she couldn't help but be impressed by the craftsmanship of it. The school had a old yet dark gothic theme to it. There were several students roaming the campus as well, touring the massive building before the school days started. And once again she was followed by stares and whispers from the other boy students as she passed by with the headmaster. She tried to ignore the attention that was making her uneasy as she walked the marble floors of the school.   
“So you can’t use magic at all human?”  
Grim asked as he looked at the girl while walking beside her. He was struggling to keep up with his short legs. Taking pity of his struggling efforts to keep up Lyla had picked up the little monster and allowed him to stay in her arms(He was rather fluffy and warm which made him pleasant to hold).  
“My name is Lyla. And yeah. I can’t use magic at all.”  
From the looks of it, the little monster wanted to make small talk so she just rolled with it while she walked in the hallways of the school. The monster gave no resistance as he was held by the girl as he was relieved that he didn't have to make a run to try and keep up to the group with no effort at all.   
“Must be really hard to survive all your own.”  
He sent a cocky and arrogant smirk which shown ‘sucks that you don’t have magic’ kind of meaning to it which made Lyla annoyed.  
“Hey I can live pretty well on my own ok? And besides in my world, we can live without it since magic doesn’t exist.”  
“A world that magic doesn’t exist?”  
Her explanation of her world seemed to make Grim surprised like he can’t imagine a world without magic in his mind. Maybe it was hard to imagine such a concept of her world in a world that was dependent on magic to survive she thought as she looked at the court yard that she ran through last night.  
“We rely on machines and technology. And there isn’t any talking animals or school’s that teach magic like in this world. Speaking of animals, what exactly are you Grim?”  
She asked the question that kept bugging her since last night.  
“What kind of question is that?”  
He said it clearly annoyed as he frowned with his paws crossed. Lyla started to walk up some marble stairs that lead up to the upper floors of the huge school.  
“I mean... You look like a raccoon or a cat. And you act like a cat and I heard you talking about tuna in your sleep.”  
“I’m not a cat! I’m the great Grim!”  
Hearing his answer Lyla decided it was best to not question about his identity any further.  
“Ok I get it. Then why did you want to go so desperately to this school then?”  
The monster stared at the girl like she had just asked the dumbest question ever.  
“Are you kidding? Night Raven College is a place that anyone would want to go to!”  
“But why Night Raven College of all places? And why do you want to learn magic?”  
The monster was stuck on his words.  
“I don’t really know? I just wanted to go to this place and become a great magician!”  
He proclaimed with a frown on his face like he was not sure himself. Lyla looked at the monster wondering why he didn’t even know the very reason he wanted to be in this school. Before she could talk any more Lyla bumped into the headmasters firm back as he suddenly stopped in front of a class room door.  
“We're here at last!"  
He announced loudly before he knocked on door three times. Then a male voice was heard from the room and Crowley entered followed by Lyla and Grim(who hoped down Lyla's arms and entered the room himself). Lyla looked over Crowley’s shoulder to see a man in a white and black fur coat, which in her mind was a rather odd piece of clothing to wear in a school like this. His hair was half black and half white and he wore a white and black vest as well matching his other items of clothing. The only thing that wasn’t either black or white was his red gloves, red tie, red socks, and red buttons that were on his shirt. The man had a charismatic arua around him having unforgiving cold gray eyes that stood out with the dark eye shadow he wore. Taking a good look of the man Lyla couldn’t help but slightly blush by how handsome he was. But taking a second look she realized something. This man had a close resemblance to a Disney character named Cruella De Vil from One Hundred and One Dalmatians. Only the difference was he was male and quite a younger version of the villain. The man in the fur coat was turned from his seat to see the three that entered the room his eyes going straight to Lyla who was just awkwardly stood stiff in the spot.  
“I guess this is the little pup that crashed the opening ceremony yesterday. You're not what I quite imagined to be.”  
Lyla had nothing to say to that since she was still stunned with her mouth slightly opened by the mans appearance. He noticed her awe and sent a smug smirk only making her blush worse by the second. He pulled out his chair and got closer to her with only a few steps from his long legs.  
“Don’t be so embarrassed little pup. Mostly everyone who sees me have the same expression of awe on their faces."  
‘Ok he is definitely Cruella De Vil. He has the fashion sense and ego to match.’  
She thought to herself as she couldn’t take her eyes off of him. Crowley who was still awkwardly there coughed and the two turned their heads to see the headmaster. Crowley went beside the young girl taking her shoulders and presenting her with his other hand.  
“Crewel this is the new temporary student that will be maintaining the campus with the monster(”My name is Grim!” Grim shouted out annoyed but no one seem to care at the moment). Since she doesn’t have magic she will be staying at the aban- I mean Ramshackle Dorm while she stays here until I find a way to send her back to their world.”  
Crewel just hummed in interest and looked at the girl. Oh wow why did the ground look so interesting all of a sudden? Lyla focused her gaze to the ground bellow her looking at the patterns that took her interest all of a sudden. Crewel just slightly smiled with amusement at the girls actions and looked back at the headmaster.  
“So what brings you here with the little pup headmaster?”  
“I was hoping that you would help with the young bird’s clothes actually.”  
At the mention of clothes Crewel’s eyes seem to glimmer with a whole new interest.  
“Why didn’t you say this earlier!”  
And with that proclaimed he quickly went to Lyla and took her hand guiding her to another room. Without any more words Lyla was brought up to a platform that was slightly raised up and with a blink of an eye with some measuring tape was wrapping around her waist without anyone holding it. She eyed the movements of the tools with pure interest and awe. The man that took her here focused his entire attention to the fabrics that were before him and looked at the color variations to chose from.  
“Any suggestions for your uniform little pup?”  
The teacher asked out all of a sudden as he pulled up a dark piece of cloth from his desk. The girl tripped on her words as she was taken back from the sudden question.  
“Something without a skirt would be nice.”

She managed to squeak out.

“Not a fan of skirts little pup?”  
He asked as a scissor cut the fabric in front of him(it was floating as well).  
“I can’t move around comfortably in those things.”  
Her voice betrayed her as it shied into a small voice. She never really took measurement for clothes like this or ever have someone make her clothes on the spot like this before. Now the measuring tape had moved around to her arm to take measurements as it wrapped around her snugly.  
“Thank you for helping with the clothes sir.”  
Since this man was helping her in such a short notice she thought it was best to thank him for his time. Even if it was still an awkward situation for her she didn’t want to make it seem she wasn’t greatful for his help. Hearing her thanks Crewel was taken back a bit stopping his movements for a second. But his smug smile returned quickly.  
“Aren’t you such a well mannered one. Oh right where are my manners. My name is Divus Crewel. I teach alchemy here at Night Raven College. And what might be your name dear?”  
Lyla fixed her poster as the fabric came in contact with her. A few pins flew close to her as well making her nervous.  
“My name is Lyla Mousley mister Crewel.”  
She said as her body stiffed since there was a needle pinning the fabric all together.  
“What a cute name.”  
As he said those words the blazer flouted out to the sewing machine along with the other clothes. It only took a few minutes for the work to be done which surprised the girl. Maybe this was a part of his magic that he could use. If she remembered right it was called ‘unique magic’ she believed. Handing her the rest of the clothes she was guided to a dressing room in order to change into her new uniform.

**A few minutes later**

“Your skills surprise me again Divus.”  
Crowley was impressed as well of the handy work of the alchemy teacher. Lyla was now wearing a well tailored uniform that fit her perfectly. The fabrics color was black that came with a white shirt matching black pants and a blazer. She wore a white and black ribbon on her neck and a vest that was in a light blue grayish color. She marveled at the teacher's work as she was turning around in every angle in front of a mirror to see herself. Then with no further explanation she was quickly pushed to the exit by Crowley as he gave his farewell at the teacher.  
“Thank you for your help again Divus! We’ll be on our way now!”  
The alchemy teacher only gave a little nod of acknowledgement as he looked rather displeased as if he wanted to talk more about the uniform and fashion he just made for the little student.  
“The pleasures mine. And I hope we meet again little pup.”  
He had a devilish smile that made Lyla silently nod with a blush again as she was moved to the exit.  
“Hey Lyla your face is all red!”  
Grim said it with a laugh clearly teasing her as the exited the room.  
“Shut up Grim.”  
She muttered as she tried to cool off from her heated cheeks. After the whole meeting with the other teacher Lyla had sudden doubts on her thoughts. Since she arrived in this world she never really expected to be given such kindness toward her. After all she wasn't from this world and was a complete stranger to it. Crowley had a odd way of saying things and had his way of being just being a tad? bit weird but he did give her a place to stay and help her find a way to get her back home. He could have thrown her in the open and not care about her at all if he wanted to. Yet he didn't and helped her. Even if she had to work for payment she was grateful for a place to stay. Plus if the staff here was just as kind like the alchemy teacher she met before, working here might be not that bad. Maybe living here in Twisted Wonderland wouldn't be that bad after all she thought as she followed the headmaster along side Grim to their first task to maintain the school.

Scratch that of what she said that this world was not going to be a bad place to live after all.  
Lyla was running through the halls of the campus trying to find a boy named Ace Trappola in anger as she had Grim on her shoulders who was equally pissed off. Just a few hours ago when she was scrubbing a base of a stone statue ( she wondered why there was a Queen of Hearts statue along with other Disney villains) along with Grim they encountered the young boy when Grim wondered who the old lady statue was. The boy introduced himself as Ace Trappola, a fresh first year that was assigned in the Heartslabyul dorm, and started to explain each members of the statues. Along side his explanations Lyla got to know that each of the dorms in this school worshiped a different Disney villain within their dorms.

Heartslabyul worshiped the **severity** of the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland

Savanaclaw worshiped the **tenacity** of the lion Scar from the Lion King

Octavinelle worshiped the **compassion** of the Sea Witch(aka Ursula) from The Little Mermaid

Scarabia worshiped the **deliberation** of the great sorcerer of the dessert(aka Jafar) from Aladdin

Pomefiore worshiped the **unrelenting efforts** of the Beautiful Queen from Snow White

Ignihyde worshiped the **diligence** of the King of the Underworld(Hades) from Hercules

Diasomnia worshiped the **elegance** of Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty

A school that worshiped Disney villains. She never thought a day of hearing such a concept. Like this school can't get any weirder. Pulling her thought aside she introduced herself to the seemingly kind boy and just about when she thought she had made a friend in this new strange world his friendly smile twisted into a mocking one making any pleasant thought of making a friend drive away from her mind the second she saw him. And the rest was history. Ace taunted the little monster. Grim scorched the Queen of Hearts stone statue with Crowley witnessing the whole scene resulting in him give punishment to all of them to clean a hundred windows. Then Ace had ditched the punishment to save himself. That was why Lyla was running in the halls of the school, all angry and fed up by this point of troublesome problems that were thrown at her since yesterday. The said orange hair boy was roaming along the hallways of Night Raven College with no care in the world as he hummed to himself.  
“Like I was going to take punishment like that because of some non magic user and raccoon dragging me into some mess.”  
He talked to himself as he strolled the school. His peaceful walk continued for a while, until he heard a raged voice behind him with fast approaching steps that echoed in the hallways.  
“Heeeeeeeyyyyyyyy Youuuuuuuuu!”  
Grim yelled out from Lyla’s shoulders as she ran toward the boy. She was clearly angry from the looks of it.  
“ACE TRAPPOLA YOU COME BACK RIGHT HERE.”  
Lyla who was running to him in top speed used the boys full name as she gained up to him. Seeing the raged girl approach him Ace ran as well fleeing for his dear life.

  
All the running lead to the hall of mirrors, a room that telaported students to their dorm rooms, yet Ace didn’t seem to slow down at all.  
“This guys fast!”  
Grim said as he clinged to Lyla’s shoulder to not get knocked off of them. She panted as she was out of breath. Then she saw another student walk in the halls. A boy with dark blue hair that had a spade painted on his face was there minding his own business. Desperate to stop the other boy who was still running from her in speed, she called out to him gaining his attention.  
“HEy please stop him!”  
The other boy stared at her wide eyed as he moved his eyes to Ace who was fastly approaching his way.  
“Eh stop him? How?”  
“Just anything!”  
She shouted back. The boy started to panick, then like a idea sparked inside his head he pulled out a pen that had a red gem decorated on it.  
“Here goes nothing!”  
As the dark hair boy shouted suddenly a heavy looking cauldron appeared just above Ace. And it landed right on top of him. A perfect shot. As the orange hair boy was pulled or rather smashed to the ground into a abrupt stop Lyla halted in her steps looking at Ace who was groaning in pain.  
‘Ok that's gonna hurt.’  
She eyed him with pained expression then she shook off the sympathy and pulled the boy under the heavy thing. Remember this was the boy that just mocked her of not having magic back at the place of the statues. She had all the rights to be angry at him.  
“Owowow. Hey watch it!”  
Lyla took the boy by the ear and painfully tugged it. She had just enough of being dragged into trouble by this point and she wasn't about to scrub the windows alone without the troublesome boy.  
“I didn’t land into this strange world to just be dragged into trouble. Just be a good responsible person and help us clean the windows!”  
“Like I would! You guys were the ones to drag me into punishment to clean hundred windows!”  
Lyla now pulled him by the collar as she was going to drag him back to the room that they were cleaning but another voice stopped her.  
“A hundred windows? What in the world did you guys do to recieve punishment like that?”  
The dark hair boy asked as he crossed his arms looking rather interested in what situation they were in. Ace just struggled in Lyla's grip and eyed the other boy.  
“This girl's pet raccoon or whatever scorched the Queen of Hearts statue with fire.”  
“Hey he isn’t my pet. And it only happened because you taunted him!”

The girl defended herself as she complained back to the boy in her grasp.  
“Scorched one the the great seven's statues? No wonder you received such a big punishment.”  
“Shuddup. Who are you anyway?”  
Ace turned to the dark hair boy and asked.  
“My name is Deuce. Deuce Spade. Shouldn’t you know a fellow classmates name when your in the same dorm as him?”  
Deuce frowned as he looked at Ace then his eyes went to Lyla.

"Your the girl back from the opening ceremony last night right?"

He had serious expression that Lyla couldn't read what he was thinking but he didn't seem to dislike her or wanted to mock her from the looks it so she just nodded.

"My names Lyla. Lyla Mousley."

"Hey if your done with the introductions can you please let me go?"

Ignoring Ace's plead for release on his collar she was about to drag him off to the room that they were cleaning windows but halted in her tracks. She now realized that someone was missing from the group.  
“Hey where’s Grim?”  
The little fur ball was indeed no where to be seen.  
“That little raccoon got away! Seems like he wasn’t the only one to want to ditch this situation. By the way can you just let me go already?”  
“Oh no your not ditching on me again! Your helping me too.”  
She pulled on his collar as she dragged him along to find the little monster.  
“Owow! OKOKOK! I get it! Hey Juice or whatever! You gonna help us too since your the reason why we lost eye on that little monster anyway.”  
“It’s not Juice! It’s Deuce!”  
He followed along the other two as he too was dragged into this mess.

  
The three ran to place and place together to find the little monster that went out of their sights. Eventually they found him in a huge room that looked like a cafeteria. The monster was darting every where.  
“Hey stop!”  
Ignoring them completely the little monster somehow managed to climb up the wall to the chandelier that was hanging on the ceiling. Having no way to reach the pesky little fur ball Deuce pulled out his pen once again but rather than pointing it to the monster he pointed it to Ace.  
“Why are you pointing that thing to me?”  
“I’m going to throw you at that little thing.”  
“I don’t think that is a great-”  
It was too late since Deuce had already preformed a spell that made Ace fling up to the air to the chandelier. But rather than aiming at Grim the boy landed on the rope that was holding up the whole structure. The rope snapped at the force.The chandelier was only held by a thin string by the time.  
“Oh no...”  
Lyla closed her eyes for the incoming chaos. And within seconds the chandelier crashed into the ground with a huge noise that didn’t go unnoticed by the headmaster that was passing the very room.  
“What is-”  
He stared at the scene in horror.  
“That was a chandelier that a old masterpiece that was crafted by a legendary blacksmith. Do you young birds even realize how much this costed? You four will be expelled for this!”  
“Can’t we make up for this sir?”  
Deuce desperately pleaded to the headmaster with almost teary eyes. Crowley just pulled a thoughtful look and looked back at the young students.  
“There is way to find the crystals that were used to make the chandelier. In a abandoned mine shaft in a dark forest. If you go there and bring those crystals back I might think about not expelling all of you if you bring them before midnight.”  
“Yes sir!”  
Deuce started to run toward the room of mirrors as well for Ace. Lyla who was kind of fed up by the whole situation by this point grabbed Grim by the neck.  
“Wha? What happened?”  
The little monster woke from his unconsciousness with no knowledge of what he had just done. Lyla just sighed and looked at the monster with a glare of a warning as she dragged him with her to follow the boys.

  
And that's how the four ended up in a dark forest to find this abandoned mine that the headmaster said of. Passing by an old abandoned cottage they reached the abandoned mines and went inside. The mine were all quite and eerie with glowing crystals around them with abandoned tools from mining and abandoned mine carts that were left to be forgotten with rust.  
“This place is giving the me creeps.”  
Ace said as he felt a chill down his arms. Lyla couldn’t deny it as well. Something about this mine didn’t feel right at all. The only one who was unfazed by the at the atmosphere was Deuce, who was determined to find the crystals to avoid being expelled. Just as the group took steps deeper in the mine Lyla perked her head to something that caught her attention.  
"Wait guys."  
Lyla halted in her steps as she heard something deep within the mines.  
"What are you suddenly scared or something?"  
Ace put up a mocking grin but ignoring that Lyla focused on hearing the sound that seemed to get closer and closer to them. Then suddenly a deafening roar of a huge thing shook the caves. The group started to look around in panic. The ground shook by the sound with huge steps that were dangerously close. Then the origin of the sound appeared at the next entrance that lead them deeper in to the mine. Then they saw it. A huge monster that spilled ink every where it goes. It roared and muttered about something about that was his and his alone.

"What in the world is that?"

Grim screamed out as he clinged to Lyla's leg in fear of the huge monster that was before them. Then something behind the beast started to glow.  
"The magic crystals!"

Deuce noticing the crystals behind the huge monster he readied his pen to aim at the monster. Then from behind the group they heard more sounds coming toward them.  
'More monsters?'

(If you don't know what the little monsters look like check the wiki page [here](https://epicmickey.fandom.com/wiki/Spatters))

Then a group of small little monsters that looked liked they were made out of ink emerged from another entrance of the mine. There were a handful of them filling up the room growling out nonsense as they came running in. The creatures that came in had a ink like body with rather silly looking big eyes. They also had some cute little ears

"Actually they look kind of cute and harmless."

Lyla said as she looked at the little monsters that bubbly spat out things that they couldn't really understand. Then one of the monsters went into full speed and tackled Deuce. The thing managed to tackle him and start to bite on his arm.

"Get off of me!"

Deuce recoiled himself back up and and started to try and get the monster off of him.

"Ok I take that back."

Then it all when to chaos of fighting right there. Deuce and Ace preformed spell after spell with Grim firing his signature blue flames at the huge monster and tiny ones as well. But none of it seemed to work on either group of monsters. And even at the moments of danger the group of boys still argued between themselves and didn't really cooperate.

"Mind where you aim the attacks will you Ace?"

Deuce yelled out from avoiding Ace's attack that was meant for a group of paint monsters.

"Hey I'll do rest of the work and land attacks. You just protect the non magic user on your side got it?"

From the wall next to them Lyla had grabbed a rusty shovel and started batting at the little paint monsters that were started to go near them. She swung the shovel left and right shooing the monsters away or hitting them to the next wall.

"I can defend myself pretty well without the help thank you very much!"

Lyla yelled out of annoyance to the two boys. Then the rusted shovel broke on her and she had to throw it at the group of little paint monsters. She managed to knock down a several by the act. But there were still too many to deal with.

The group started to engage into trying to fight the monsters but they failed miserably as the monsters were unfazed of their magic attacks. Having no gain of attacking the monsters the group fled the scene together, panting for breath as they were back to the abandoned cottage from the start.  
"Those things weren't even fazed by our magic!"  
Grim said in mid pants.  
"That thing will kill us before even get those things."  
Ace said in mid pants as well. Deuce who now collected his breath started to walk toward the mine.  
"Hey wait dude do you have a death wish?"  
Ace stopped Deuce by the shoulders only to be harshly pushed away.  
"I'm not going to just sit here and accept my faith of being expelled."  
Ace just sighed and shook his head turning to the opposite direction toward the mirror that they came from.  
"We might as well go back to school now. We don't even have a chance against those things anyway. I'm going back to school with or without you guys."  
Suddenly at Ace's words Deuce's face turned into a scary one and he clenched his fists together as he eyes Ace with a death glare.  
"Oh so your going to walk off like that like a coward?"  
Deuce's voice suddenly changed with a hint of violence.  
"Um Deuce did your character suddenly change?"  
Deuce surprised by his own change of attitude only coughed and continued to argue with the group resulting in everyone complaining or fighting with each other which by this point Lyla was fed up about.  
“Knock it off all of you!”  
The three stopped in mid fighting as Lyla shouted out and stared at her stunned with her sudden outburst.  
“W-Why did you shout all a sudden?”  
Grim said as he took a step back. At this point Lyla was just fed up by how they didn’t want to cooperate with each other.  
“Whatever you guys say, neither of you guys did anything helpful for all of us!”  
She turned herself to Grim which made him flinch.  
“Grim you should have just stayed put and not make any trouble like the head master said.”  
Now she turned to Ace who flinched as well.  
“Ace you should have taken responsibility and helped us with the cleaning in the first place!”  
She turned to Deuce.  
“I know you just wanted to help but if you just had listened to Ace back there this wouldn’t have happened in the first place!”  
At her pointing out the other three were rendered to be silent. Some even feeling guilty at her words.  
"Whatever! We don't even have a chance against that thing. We might as accept our faiths and go back."

Ace turned back to the way for the mirror.

“So do you chose to get expelled before the first day of school then?” Lyla said as she looked at Ace as he was about to go away  
The boy seem to be affected by those words halting in his steps.  
“That sounds kind of bad...”  
Grim said with a defeated face. Ace turned around with a unsure look upon his face as well. Clenching his fists in defeat he looked up to Lyla.  
“So what do you want us to do then?”  
As she thought of a plan Lyla gathered the group around and told what she had in her mind to try and defeat the beast that was in the mines.

**_One moment later_ **

"Hey ugly!"

Lyla shouted out with all her might toward the huge beast that was still roaming in the crystal mines. The beast turned it's head toward the girl. The beast let out a roar and followed her as she ran toward where she wanted the beast to be in order to lay out in a group attack. 

"NOW!"

As she shouted out a burst of flames ignited followed by strong wind that boosted the flames. The huge monster hissed pain.

"Success!"

Grim yelled out from the spot he was positioned in with Ace by his side who was grinning as well for their success. Then A heavy cauldron land on the beasts head with a heavy thud resulting in heavy damage. Deuce went out of his spot as well to join the group. Unfortunately the beast didn't settle to be defeat with just that. It raised once again and started to land attacks on the group. Lyla who didn't have any magic to defend herself started to back away from the swinging attacks from the huge beast until she was met with the familiar little paint monsters from before. She let out a yelp as one of the monsters tackled her from the side. Hitting the ground the force of her fall made the paint brush from her pocket roll down on the floor in front of her. And then the strangest thing happened before her eyes. The little paint monsters seeing the sight of the brush gasped in surprise and started to back away in fear of just the sight of it. Seeing this Lyla had quickly grabbed back the paint brush from the ground and aimed it at the monsters. And her method of threatening seemed to work as they retreated back.But her success only lived out shortly as soon as the monsters started to realize she didn't really know how to properly use the thing in her hands they started to gain up on her again. 

"Stay back!"

Lyla yelled out as she swung the paint brush in her hand. With that blue paint splattered around at the swing of the brush. And before her eyes a group of little monsters that unfortunately got hit by the paint spun around for a moment as they were completely covered in blue. The monsters who were now painted in blue shook their heads and looked back at their group of friends. But rather than attacking the girl in front of them the blue monsters now attacked the unpainted ones with a inaudible gurgle using their heads to bash or bite the other monsters that were their allies at some point. 

"Lyla your guidance is much needed here now!"

She snapped out of her awe at the sudden turn between the monsters as she heard Deuce's plead for guidance on how to defeat the monster in front of them. At least the little paint monsters were occupied for now. Wondering what just happened is for later.

After guiding the boys on how to attack the monster with cooperating their attacks the four have finally succeeded and have taken the monster down on their own. The boys went into a group high five. “Isn’t it nice to finally cooperate rather than fighting each other?”  
She finally had a warm smile for once as she looked at the three with crossed arms. The boys stopped their movements and backed away from each other.  
“Working with him? Never!”  
Deuce said as he backed away from their victory high five.  
“We only won because of my genius!”  
“I think your talking about her genius. But I can’t really deny that was something back there. If it weren’t for you we would have never gotten this crystals in the first place. And where did you even get that neat paint brush?" Ace patted Lyla’s back with respect for once as he asked about the item tightly gripped in Lyla's hand.

"I don't exactly know."

She trailed off until she heard a russle of a bush near them. Then paint monsters back at the mine came out of the bush one by one. The monsters followed them? There were five in total, looking rather eager to follow them through out the whole way back to the campus as they shyly peeked out of the forest trees.

"Looks like you little guys haven't learned your lesson back there? Get back or I'll roast ya!"

The little things actually cowarded from Grim's proclaim to roast them and ran to Lyla. The paint monsters peeked from behind her leg in fear. 

"I don't think they want to hurt us anymore Grim."

"I think she's right the things did help us as soon as they turned blue with the paint."

Deuce said as he looked down at the monsters with interest of his own. He never really saw any sort of monsters like these before. 

"But what do we do with these guys then?"

Lyla said as she tried to shoo away the paint monsters that clinged to her leg. She was starting to feel sorry as she saw one look at her with glassy puppy dog eyes. 

"Forget about the monsters we have something more important to worry about! Like saving our butts from getting kicked out of the school remember?"

With Ace saying that the group realized it was almost time of the deadline that they had to bring back the crystals back to the headmaster before they were to be expelled so they went into a run toward the mirror that lead back to the chamber of mirrors. Not paying much attention to the paint monsters that were still following them in their trails.

“We got the crystals just like you asked for!”  
Deuce was the first one to shout it as he opened the door for Crowleys office in a hurry. The headmaster looked rather stunned to hear their success for retrieving the crystals stopping his motion of his pen as he was writing down on some papers.

"I didn't actually think you four would actually do it. I was already signing the papers- wait what are those creatures?"

The headmaster looked at the group of little blue paint monsters that followed all the way from the mines.

"It's a rather long story."

Lyla said with a nervous laugh as she held the paint brush in her hand.

_**After a long explanation** _

The group had explained the whole thing with the monster and fight in the office of the headmaster. The paint monsters that followed Lyla were stationed outside leaning to the door and fighting for their spot in a silly fight with each other.  
“So you four had to work together as a team to defeat this monster to get these crystals?”  
All of them nodded at his words. Then Crowley went silent.  
“Headmaster?”  
Lyla called to Crowley with concern. Then the headmaster suddenly bursted into crying in front of the students that made them look at each other in confusion at the grown adult that was sobbing uncontrollably in front of them.  
“I haven’t seen students of this very school work together to a same goal since I ever started as a headmaster here! You have a talent as a beast tamer for certain!”  
The headmaster rather excited and joyed by this had he wiped his tears and hugged Lyla in a tight huge.  
“A beast tamer?”

Wiggling out of the headmasters embrace she asked in confusion of his remark of her being a beast tamer. Once his excitement was over the headmaster started to explain.

“Students of Night Raven College have great abilities of magic. However that power makes them overly prideful and egoistical people.”  
“His not really saying anything nice about us isn’t he?”  
Ace said with a discouraged expression on his face. Crowley stepped forward and took the young girls hands in his own and beamed at her.  
“You might be the person we need after all to help the students to cooperate with each other. Even if you don’t have any magic in you I have no doubt that you are a essential staff member for our school. The events of today just prove that! And with that neat little paint brush of yours I can only imagine the things you can accomplish!"

Then the headmaster with pride on his face had held a hand to his chest.

“That's why the kind me has decided that you will be attending this school after all!”  
“What?”  
All them exclaimed at Crowley's decision.  
“You and the monster will be enrolled into Night Raven College as one student. Grim will fill in parts that you will have to use magic and you will study in classes with other fellow students. And don’t worry, for I will continue to search for a way for you to get back home my young little bird!”  
The headmaster now pulled out something out his desk and presented it to Grim, who was hardly containing his excitement at this point.  
“And as for Grim he will have to use this as a student of Night Raven College.”  
The headmaster held out a pendant that had a purple colored gem. It was similar to what Deuce and Ace had on their pens that had a black and white stripe ribbon attached to it.   
“Finally! I got in the school and this time not as the janitor!”  
He started to cry at that point as Lyla tried to calm him down as she congratulated him.  
“Since the Ramshackle dorm has no students and you have to take care of Grim that makes you a supervisor of the dorm.”  
Deuce put a hand to Lyla’s shoulders as he looked at her with respect.  
“I never heard of a supervisor student that can’t use magic. But I think it has a cool ring to it in someway I guess.”  
Ace chimed in the conversation with a smile that was not fake this time.  
“A supervisor...”  
Crowley started to talk to himself again and like he came to a conclusion he pulled a old looking camera that has a familiar shape of a mouse on it handed it to Lyla. He explained the use of the ghost camera advising her to use it to report any trouble or record the adventures she has in this land. She couldn’t be more grateful and she thanked the head master. Just as she was about to leave the office with the others she was stopped by the headmaster who held her by the hand. 

"You should keep an eye out for the paint brush. Who knows what will happen if you were to lose that precious little trinket. Also little bird I think it will be good for you to learn how to use it properly as well for anymore monsters you might have to deal in the future of course."

His tone of voice was his regular tone of cheer and pride but something felt off. Like he was warning her for something with his eyes for something that she didn't really understand. She nodded in agreement dismissing her thoughts thinking it was the headmaster being worried. The headmaster finally let her go and closed the door to his office going about his business for the upcoming first day of school.

The group finally went out of the headmasters office only to be tired after all that had happened in just one day. The group had only met that very day but something shifted between them after the events of today had happened.

"Guess we will be seeing you tomorrow in school Prefect!"

Ace playfully punched the side of Lyla's arm as they stopped in front of the hall of mirrors before he entered to the Heartslabyul dorm mirror. Deuce followed him giving a small wave as a good bye to Lyla with a smile and Lyla returned it as well. Saying their good byes they left each other at the hall of mirrors going to their separate dormitories for the night.

"Lyla the things are still following us..."

Grim said as he looked behind them to see the blue paint monsters still there. They didn't seem to want to be separated from Lyla and was eager to follow her wherever she went. As soon as the two stopped the paint monsters halted in their tracks too making them bump into each other resulting them babbling to each other angrily. It was a rather silly thing to watch and the two snorted out laughing.

"I guess they can stay with us in the dorm. If they promised to behave."

The paint monsters stopped fighting and looked at the girl with delight. And now they cheered in their inaudible babbling. Now with new companions that were staying with them the group went to the worn dorm. She somehow landed into a magic school when she didn’t even have magic to begin with. It was truly a strange situation to be in. She didn't really know how to think of it. But she would have be lying if she said she wasn't she kind of excited for the the new adventures she was about to have. Like Crowley said, this school had overly prideful students here and there but if he said that with her existence that it could change for once she wanted to do her best and help the school for the better, even if she just fell into this strange world. Thinking of that she was reminded something her father once told her when she was very young. He said that people can’t really change who they are really inside. And that it was a wasteful effort to try and change who they are.  
‘Dad you were wrong about one thing in life. People can change if you just guide them into the right path.’  
But thinking of her dad she wondered how it was back at her world. Was she already considered as a missing person there?  
‘I wonder if dad is doing alright without me...’  
She shoved her negative thoughts to the corner of her mind as she looked down to Grim who was still babbling about how excited he was to start as a new student here. She couldn't help but give a warm smile at the monster who was full of joy and at the new paint monsters that were following her as well as they went for the Ramshackle dorm to retire for the night. 

Thus her days of living in Twisted wonderland truly began after that very day. 

In the deep of the night when most living beings were asleep there was only one figure that was awake at the time who was there at the school. Dire Crowley's office was the only one that was lit up with light at the ungodly late hour. His office was silent with no sound. On his desk was an open envelope with a red seal. The seal was marked with a shape of two stars. The very ones that Lyla had wished upon the night before she landed in Twisted Wonderland. Seated in his chair with a thoughtful look on his face he once again read the letter that was sent to him the day of the opening ceremony for Night Raven College.

Dear headmaster of Night Raven College

First I would like to apologize for the short notice of this letter that is going to reach out to you on the day of the opening ceremony of Night Raven College. And if the spell had worked right a young girl named Lyla Mousley would have appeared in one of your carriages to attend the school. I am sure that the young girl is wondering why or how she had ended up in such a obscure situation all of a sudden but I regret that the whole situation is not a matter I can write down on just a single sheet of paper. All that I can say is that she will be a essential member to defend the evil beings that are about to come upon our world. I would have taken her as my apprentice but I am in no place at the time to help her learn. I will entrust her to you and the staff of the school to let her learn and grow for the time being. I have already sent help on her way to explain this situation in detail and aid her on her quest. Until then I hope that she will be fine within your care.

From sorcerer Yen Sid

Crowley had put the letter down to his desk and raised up from his chair, swaying the cape he wore out of his way to go to the window. He looked down to see the Ramshackle dorm. The once abandoned dormitory was now inhabited by the young girl and monsters that now lived there. He couldn't help but twitch a smile of interest as he looked at the dorm with his yellow orb like eyes behind the mask that were glowing in the dark. 

"What a interesting young bird indeed."

* * *

**(My Tumblr blog:<https://www.tumblr.com/blog/lets-start-writing>)**

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse  
> -Walt Disney-


	4. A Rough Start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers! Exams are finally over and I am back! Updates on chapters should be regular from now on(one chapter a week maybe). Hope you like the new chapter dear readers!
> 
> (Update 2020/10/16: Wow this had so many spelling mistakes as well... Fixed it but if there are still more tell me in the comments! Oh right I also included a link to my Tumblr blog if you are interested in seeing it.)

**_A few days after the opening ceremony of Night Raven College_ **

"Prefect are you going to eat that?"  
Ace eyed the chocolate muffin that was next to Lyla as she was reading a book in the cafeteria. It was lunch time and students of Night Raven College were gathered for their daily meal. The first years were eating together in a table together as a group. Grim was sitting next to Lyla and chowed down a can of tuna that Lyla had bought for him. Ace and Deuce were sitting next together Ace had already eaten his meal and dessert while Deuce was still eating his. Having to purchase a sandwich, orange juice, and a chocolate muffin for dessert Lyla had already munched down on her sandwich which left out her dessert that Ace tried to reach out for with his hands as he leaned on the table.  
"Yes Ace I'm going to eat that so stop trying to steal it away please."  
Without taking her eyes off the book she grabbed the muffin and slid it away out of his reach. Ace just pouted and poked her leather book spine making her look straight in his eyes with a unamused look.  
"You've been looking in that book since morning prefect. Aren't you bored of it right now?"  
The book was hard book cover about history of Twisted Wonderland. It was one of the books that Crowley had given to her, which she immediately dived in reading. The world history of this new world had been so fun to read than history back at earth. She spend hours reading it and it distracted her from the stares and glances that were toward her when she was just going through the school. Since the events from the opening ceremony the students of the college didn't take Lyla very 'welcoming' to say at least. It made her anxious reminding her of times in high school of rumors and whispers that were thrown about her.

"It is interesting to read. And if you read more Ace it would help you with your history grades."

Distracting her from her own thoughts she replied to Ace's words with a smug smirk of her own. This was how she was with Ace now. If he teased or mocked her in some sort of way she teased back or gave him blunt comments ruthlessly. After the whole thing with the monster Lyla, Ace, Deuce and Grim had been hanging out together since the start of the school. And eventually she had filled in her story of somehow being warped from her world to Twisted Wonderland to the other boys(she left out the part of her wishing on a star for the sake of avoiding teasing from Ace). She was more than thankful to have them in the same class even if it was a handful to be with them. If she and Grim were to be assigned in a class with unfamiliar classmates she wouldn't be as tolerable to be in this weird school for her. Ace hearing the ruthless words from the prefect he pulled an offended look.

"Yeah she is right. It wouldn't kill you to read one of those history books for once."

Ganging up with her Deuce joined in as well. With his tease turning back on him Ace just looked at his two friends with disbelief.

"Since when did you two get along so well?"

It was true that Deuce and Lyla wasn't all that buddy buddy with each other at first. Deuce was an awkward mess when it came to talking to girls and Lyla noticed that. But since Ace's mischievous personality was sometimes tiring they agreed upon themselves to tease back on him anyway they can. And eventually Deuce started to treat her casually. At first when starting the school year together Ace and Deuce seemed like they didn't go well together. But The two boys had this unspoken rivalry between them that made them somewhat close. Actually it was entertaining to watch as the they when back and forth with each other(sometimes with Grim as well) deciding who was the best. Even so the rivalry resulted in trouble and Lyla was the one to be the mother of the group and stop them before any damage happened.

"Ever since you kept teasing us about simple things. And I only read so much so I can distract myself you know."

At first Ace didn't really know what she meant about but realizing students staring at their way and often whispering at each other looking their way he started to know what she meant about.

"What are you so worried about some whispers and rumors? Just tell them to mind their own business."

"You make it sound so easy to do that Ace."

Her eyes went back to the book as she took the muffin in her hands.

"Since you’re the only girl in the school I guess the attention is hard to avoid. And... the fiasco back in the entrance ceremony really left a impression you know."  
Deuce eyed Grim as the little monster raised his head up from the tin can.  
"What?"  
The monster asked, not knowing they were talking about him as one of the reasons why the students were sending glances and whispering toward them.  
"Nothing."  
Deuce just gave a troubled expression before he went back to Lyla.

"It's not like I wanted to land into this school to cause trouble or anything."

Lyla replied to Deuce as she finally took a bite into the muffin. She was aware of the fact that most students had a slight disliking to her. Mocking her of not having magic at all or being some troublesome student that attracts monsters or such. It was not like she didn't like the paint monsters, but she had to give a strict rule to the little things to stay at the Ramshackle dorms at all times(it was hard to convince the little things when all they said didn't make any sense) for safety and avoiding attention as much as possible. And she had a stern warning from Trein to keep the little things in a orderly fashion after the little things caused a ruckus in class. She just wanted to spend her days at this school quietly as possible and go back to her original world. 

"Hey but look at the bright side you're the talk of the school! Before even the first day!"

Again with his smug smile. Lyla just put down her book and sighed looking at Ace as she gave expression of annoyance with an raised eyebrow at him clearly not amused by his joke.

"Ace, sometimes I just want to strangle you but I just can't because school rules forbid me so. So consider yourself lucky for that."  
The Heartslabyul boy just shot a playful smile and laughed as he stood up from his seat.  
"Prefect don't be so cold to me! I know you like me under that serious look of yours."  
She only rolled her eyes and stood from her seat as well taking the trash and book in hand to go to the trashcan to depose of the waste left over from her lunch. Grim had already hopped in her arms and talked about how great the meal was. What Lyla didn't realize was the tall person that somehow was right behind her all of a sudden and in result she bumped into the person’s chest along with Grim that was in her arms. She took a quick step back, cheeks all flushed in bright red from the contact, and her legs hit the chair that was right behind her.  
"Hey why is there person here all of a sudden!"  
Grim equally surprised with Lyla and the other two that were across from the table looked at the new presence. She looked up to see the figure. The person who towered over her so easily made a intimidating impression to her. She got a close look of the strangers face. Having teal colored hair with a single strand of dark hair he had yellow eyes that seemed to glow one being slightly darker than the other. The person in front of her had a playful grin on his face as he looked down to the girl that had a chill down her spine. She looked to his arm to see a purple grayish armband wrapped around his uniform. He was from Octavinelle if she remembered the dorms color correctly. Now the student in front of her had bend down to her eye sight which made her arch her back.  
"So you’re the new girl student that made a mess out of the entrance ceremony."  
His voice was nothing like she ever heard from a boy before. His smile wasn't a threatening one. Rather it shown interest and playful side to it but it still managed to intimidate her.  
"Um..."  
Not knowing how to reply to that she just stood there. And not realizing it herself her legs were slightly shaking which didn't seem to go unnoticed by the tall boy in front of her.  
"Aww are you shaking? You look like a frighten little shrimp right now! That makes me want to squeeze you tightly so much!"  
The Octavinelle student started to laugh as he started to tease her. Squeeze her? She had no doubt that if this boy did that she would end up breaking a rib or something.   
"This persons kind of scary!"  
Grim was shaking in her hold as well. Just as she was about to step aside another voice interfered.

"Floyd you shouldn't torment the dear first years like that."

A other voice called out to the student as he tried to stop the boy from hugging her. Lyla turned her head to see a mostly identical person that she was facing with. They were twins she realized. The twin in front of her looked wild and playful, the other twin on the other hand looked more well-mannered, calm and collective by appearance.  
"You’re no fun Jade."  
The boy in front of her whined and pouted looking rather disappointed that his fun was put to a stop so soon. Just before she could ask if they wanted to talk about something a third member joined in the group. With the tall Octavinelle student called Floyd out of the way the third member now went in front of her but respected the space between them and didn't go as close as Floyd. It was the boy with silver hair that tried to get a good look under her hood back at the opening ceremony.

"I do apologize for my friends actions. He can get carried away sometimes."

The silver haired boy apologized for his friends behavior but Lyla was still on edge.

"Can I help you with something?"

The prefect asked as she looked at the silver haired boy as she looked at the group with caution.

"Actually I came here to meet you. After all I was worried to hear that some rumors said that you were a non-magic user thrown into an all-boys school from another world. Is it really true?"

There were already rumors spreading around like that? Talk was sure fast in this school. Thinking that Lyla only nodded at his words and the boy had a sympathetic expression painted on his face that Lyla thought it wasn't all that sincere.

"Such a poor unfortunate soul aren't you? Helping a soul like yourself would have been the way of the sea witch."  
He held out a lavender color card out to her between his fingers. Lyla carefully took the little slip and looked at it. There on the card was a phone number as well with neat silver letters that spelled Azul Ashengrotto. The new boy in front of her gave a little bow toward her.

"My name is Azul Ashengrotto. Dorm leader of Octavinelle and owner of the Mostro Lounge."  
He gave a friendly little smile toward the girl. It almost felt warm and true but Lyla knew better. He looked as if he had ulterior motives behind his eyes. And Lyla knew well of the villain that this dorm worshiped and she was on edge about that fact. What did the dorm leader of Octavinelle actually want out of her? He leaned down to take Lyla's hands and placed a little kiss on the back of her hand. Her cheeks went warm from the act.  
"Charmed."  
Lyla said cautiously as she retreated her hand from the gesture. She just wanted to back away to her group of friends but there was a table between them blocking them from escape. Lyla looked back to Ace and Deuce but the other two boys were just stood there in shock not knowing what to do.

"I'm just here to tell you if anything is troubling yourself you could always consult things with me. And I am sure to grant whatever wish you might have. If you find yourself in need of any help just give me a call and we could arrange a deal. Well until then I hope you have a pleasant day."

And with that he gave little bow with his head and went for the exit of the cafeteria and his friends followed closely as if business was just done like that. Floyd walked backward as he looked to the still stunned Lyla and Grim and gave a playful big smile showing his sharp white teeth.

"Nice meeting you lil Shrimpy!"

Floyd cheerily waved back to the prefect and she only gave out a nervous smile and waved back not knowing how to think of the sudden situation that just happened before her. The whole group was silent until the three Octavinelle students were out of sight. Deuce was the one to break the silence.

"What the heck just happened back there?"

"I don't know."

Lyla replied with uncertainty herself eyeing the lavender card that she now had in her hands.

**_After school_ **

Parting ways with the Heartslabyul boys Lyla and Grim were on their way to go back to the Ramshackle dorm to rest for the evening. And before this Lyla had received a new phone from Crowley after school had ended and she couldn't wait to try it out as she went back. But before she could do that she had to run a errand to the school's convenient store called 'Mr. S's Mystery Shop'. Just as she was given her way to communicate in this world as well as for allowance to buy stuff for herself(she could already hear Crowley's signature 'I am so kind' from just thinking about it) Crowley had given her two lists of things one being the list of stuff she had to buy for upcoming school days and the other being a inventory list of things that had to be purchased for school for classes. From the looks of it even if she was an official student alongside Grim, Crowley still seemed to intend to use them as people who carry out his errands.

"Why is eye shadow and eyeliner an essential thing for school? I don't even wear makeup to begin with!"

She was kind of baffled by the items on the list almost as if complaining it to Grim as the monster walked beside her.

"Beats me. I just don't understand why humans put those stuff on their face in the first place."

She looked at the list of things she needed to buy to progress for the upcoming school days. Along the list she needed to buy food and clothes for herself. She was told from Crowley that this shop had everything she needed but she wasn't really sure if this shop really had everything she needed. As she was deep in thought of what to buy she didn't really notice she wasn't paying attention on where she was going. And just then she bumped into a student in front of her resulting her on dropping the list in her hands.

"Oh gosh I'm so sorry!"

She quickly blurted out to the other student as she tried to collect herself.

"You should watch where you're going."

The boy coldly remarked as he brushed off his uniform. Now looking at the boy Lyla quickly recognized who it was. It was that red haired boy back at the ceremony that glared at her because she wasn't on time. If she recalled what Ace said once said in a conversation their dorm leader was named Riddle Rosehearts and was really strict with rules and such. And recalling Ace's description of the dorm leader it was well matched with the boy in front of her.

"Yeah sorry. You must be Riddle Rosehearts right?"

The boy only nodded and then looked back at Grim who was beside her. As she was about to give a friendly introduction of herself she was cut off of her words by Riddle.

"Even after that event at the entrance ceremony don't you feel shamed by breaking the rules? You’re already breaking a school rule by just dragging along troublesome monsters by your side."

The boy in front of her snapped clearly not interested of trying to know her at all.

"Hey! Who are you calling troublesome!"

Hearing him being referred as being troublesome Grim got into a angry pose and started to huff. When she did admit Grim was sort of troublesome she didn't like the way Riddle was treating her companion with disrespect. She felt a impulsive urge to defend him and her words came out before she could think.

"Hey it's not breaking the rules if the headmaster agreed on letting him in this school. He is just like any student that attends Night Raven College just like you."

"Human?"

Hearing the the defensive prefects words the little monster was kind of stunned. On the other hand Riddle just let sigh and shook his head looking like he wasn't turning down his opinion about this. He just took out his silver pocket watch and looked at the time muttering to himself about that they wasted his time and proceeded to walk away to the hall of mirrors.

"What was his problem?"

Grim huffed out in anger as he stomped his feet on the ground having a trying to calm his thoughts of just firing a fireball toward the dorm leader of Heartslabyul. She had to pick the little monster up from the ground to calm his nerves as well picking up the list that was dropped on the ground.

"Grim it isn't worth it. Let’s just forget about this and go shopping ok?"

Grim just grumbled in her arms as he crossed his arms. Putting what had just happened aside they reached a small building that had a sign that shown that this was the place that they were looking for. Giving the door a push the two entered the store. Lyla was kind of stunned to see how many things were displayed in the shop. From glowing crystals and potions that were in vials, charms, necklaces, creepy looking dolls the variety seemed endless. Just as they set in foot a man near the counter perked up to see the two. The man had magenta eyes and black hair mixed with purple dreads. Also the man had a theme of a skeleton having skeletal marks on his body including his clothes. It actually reminded her of Dr. Facilier from The Princess and the Frog.

"Oh you must be the new girl student of the school. Crowley mentioned you before."

"Um I got this list from the headmaster sir..."

Lyla got the list from her hand and held it out to her not really sure what to call the man in front of her.

"Just call me Sam Little Demon."

Lyla nodded and handed him the inventory list.

"Crowley must have been using you for errands like this huh?"

"Apparently so..."

She dragged and looked around the store trying to seek for the items she needed.

"Um mister Sam do you might have any chance... have food and clothes in your shop? And all this items from this list?"

Lyla asked shyly as she held out another list to the young shop keeper. Taking the list as well Sam looked through the context in mere seconds and just gave a smile at the girl.

"All are in stock right now! I could get all of these items on this list for ya if you like while you pick out your clothes and food supplies."

Hearing that everything was in stock in the shop Lyla was stunned for seconds before she quickly thanked the shop keeper and took his offer and went to find suitable clothes and food to eat for her stay. After a while she started to wonder why in the world that this place had girl sized clothes and underwear as she went through the stock not knowing she was to be relieved to have a place to buy her much needed things in a near place or to be mortified by the fact that this place had literally everything she needed in some strange way. Beside her the whole time Grim just complained to hurry up and demanded to buy tuna cans before they went out. As she collected her items and put them on the counter(Grim was looking for tuna cans on another shelf) another student had entered the shop.

"Ah Vil! What might you be finding today?"

Turning her head around she saw a boy with blond hair with purple highlights in them. The boy was taller than her and had a face that shown both beauty and handsomeness. He had a appearance like a model. By judging the color of his arm band he was from Pomefiore that worshiped the Beautiful Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

"I'm actually looking for the new cosmetics released last week."

"Ah yes I do have them in stock! Little demon do you mind waiting a bit on the payment?"

Hearing that the shop keeper was referring to her she quickly nodded and Sam went in the back to search for this cosmetics Vil was looking for while humming. The room was rendered silent as the cheery shop keeper was gone. And Lyla felt this suffocating gaze of the boy behind her judging her from head to toe and the clothes that she bought.

"Are you buying all of that?"

Vil suddenly asked from his spot.

"Yes."  
She just gave a short straight forward reply. And then he just gave a unamused hum as he looked at the clothes. Now he looked at her round pair of glasses she wore.

"Did you ever consider wearing contacts?"

"Um no."

Why was he questioning her so much?

"Wear any makeup?"

"No"

This was already getting annoying.

"Use hair conditioner and skin products daily?"

"Sometimes?"

He had a troubled expression then he closed his eyes with a sigh.

"Such a pity. A potato such as you seemed to have potential."

Wait did this guy seriously just call her a potato on their first meeting? Just as she was about to state that she was offended the shop keeper came in with a small box and placed it in the counter.

"Here you go!"

"Thanks mister Sam."

Vil thanked the young shop keeper and placed his payment on the counter and just left like that leaving Lyla all offended and baffled in the spot. Seeing her state Sam started to give a light chuckle as he sorted out the items in a bag for her.

"He is always like that with people little demon. Don't be so discouraged from that."

Sam said to the girl as if he somehow heard all of their conversation. Lyla already tired and stressed from her day today just wanted dearly to go back to the Ramshackle Dorm.

**_On the way to Ramshackle Dorm_ **

"Hey Lyla want to take a stroll in that garden?"

Grim who was walking beside her as she carried the bought items in a bag pointed to a dome shaped building that looked like a garden. Lyla was tired and stressed but looking how Grim looked eager to explore the place she was slightly hesitate. But thinking to herself she decided that just a stroll could help her reveal her stress about today. Plus her curiosity got the better of her as she wondered what plant life was there in the gardens.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to take a walk."

Grim hearing those words got excited and went forth to the door of the botanic gardens. Opening the door the gardens were fairly empty with no students in sight. Lyla had put down the purchased items near the entrance on a bench and followed after Grim who when in first. She was sent into a state of awe as she saw plants and flowers she never saw before in pretty colors. The gardens even had a pleasant temperature to it to have a scroll and relax.

"Hey human come here! I found some weird looking plant that looks kind of delicious."

"Grim whatever you do don't touch-"

Just as she was warning Grim to not touch anything she felt something under her foot and a yelp of pain beside the bushes. She quickly retreated her foot and saw a tail on the ground that was poking out to the walkway. To her horror the tail resemble a one of a lion's. Then someone raised up from the bushes and gave Lyla the most threatening glare she had experienced which gave her a chill down her spine as she backed away a step. There in the bushes was young man with dark tan skin with messy brown hair with braids on each side. And on top of his head were ears of a lion. She had no doubt he was a Savannaclaw student from just from his appearance. His green eyes glared at her as he looked irritated that someone stepped on his tail.

"You got some nerve to step on my tail and say nothing."

The Savannaclaw student got out from his place and Lyla just stood there in fear frozen from her spot.

"Huh aren't you that girl that the mirror proclaimed to have no magic? Hmm"

And with that with no warning he leaned in closer to Lyla and started to sniff her earning a choked out small yelp from her as she arched her back.

"Ha I really don't smell a speck of magic from you."

Great more mockery. She backed away from him and gave an apologetic nervous smile.

"I'm sorry about stepping on your tail and all... I should get going right now!"

"Oi you’re not going to walk away that easy after you just stepped on my tail like that."

Just as she was going to walk pass him he blocked her path with his arm and Lyla bumped in.

"Hey I already said sorry and-"

As pathetic as it was she looked like a cornered mouse that was chased down like prey. Just as she thought she was doomed for a voice suddenly interfered.

"Leona!"

Another voice was heard from the side. There was a boy with animal ears as well with a tail running toward the man in front of her. And with this boys appearance the man in front of her seemed very annoyed.

"I finally found you! You won't imagine how much talk I had to go through with Trein because you skipped class again."

And with that the two Savannaclaw students argued not paying much attention to her anymore. This was her chance to escape! Quietly taking Grim(He as well was scared for his dear life as his fur stood on the end) as she walked out unnoticed and taking her bags of items with them they closed the door behind them and made a run to the Ramshackle dorm. And they reached the porch unharmed and safe and with no one else following them from behind.

"OK its official I had enough of weird people today. And I am going to stay the rest of the day in the dorm."

"Strongly seconded human."

The two with panting breaths quickly opened the door and slammed it shut behind them.

She managed to catch a interest of a rather shady looking student, anger one dorm leader, get insulted by a boy about her appearance and anger a Savannaclaw student in just one day. Great just great! Like she needed more suffering in her life right now. She groaned in her seat in the couch. Currently in the dorm Grim was going back and forth with the ghost in the dorm as they teased the monster again(Lyla gave a strict warning not to use fire in the dorm again). And beside her the five paint monsters somehow managed to find a deck of cards to play with while they were gone. Trying to not stress out of the events that happened today she pulled out her new phone to play with it trying to get use to the apps and functions that were installed in the device. After sometime she got used to it she suddenly got hit by an idea.

'I wonder...'

She whipped out the app that was used for searching things by taking pictures(it's similar to google lens app) and aimed the camera to Grim who wasn't looking her way as he went back and forth with the ghost inhabitants of the Ramshackle dorm. Taking a secret snap of a picture of him the app did it's work to give a result on who the monster was. Lyla wasn't really surprised when she saw the results telling her that Grim was a raccoon. Maybe she should ask him sometime what he actually was. Then her attention went back to the paint monsters. It wouldn't hurt to try and know kind of monsters they were right?

"Hey smile."

She said to one of the paint monsters that was playing with the others in a game of cards. The paint monster turned to her direction and upon seeing that she aimed the camera it strikes a silly little pose for her. Lyla almost laughed when the camera went off. Her eyes went back to the screen to wait for the results that were to appear. The phone screen displayed a circling icon indicating it was trying identify the picture. Sometime had passed until the screen changed again.

There were no results

If it were usual Lyla would have just taken it for the AI didn't took the picture too clearly and shown there was no results but something bothered her now that she started to think about it deeply. Now realizing it was rather strange. The paint brush was something out of her dream and materialized in the real world. And those monsters seemed to be really scared of it as they set their eyes upon it before turning blue. And thinking how Crowley reacted back at the office seeing those monsters she guess that they were not really common along these lands. Yet she somehow got a weapon to defend herself against them. It was like someone just gave her this brush to defend herself against this unknown monsters that seemed to appear in this world from out of nowhere. And that comment from Crowley from the day she was accepted here as a student bugged her. It was like he knew something about the brush and knew how important it was. Could the headmaster know something she didn't know about this whole situation?

"Hey human! It's already dinner time!"

She was abruptly snapped away from her deep thoughts because of Grim who was whining for food. She sighed to herself as she raised up from the couch to go toward the kitchen to fix something for dinner. Maybe she should confront the headmaster about this when she had the time.

* * *

**(My Tumblr blog:<https://www.tumblr.com/blog/lets-start-writing>)**

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You must not let anyone define your limits because of where you came from. Your only limit is your soul  
> -Gusteau(Ratatouille)-


	5. Crowley Knows Best?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! I got too carried away and made the chapter so long and the editing took longer than expected. Hope you like the chapter for today dear readers!

After school was over the students of Night Raven College flooded in the hallways to go to their separate dorms, study in the library or just goof off and play with each other as they went through the crowd. And in the crowd of people Lyla went with her usual group of friends which was Grim, Ace and Deuce. She grew to ignore the stares and whispers that were thrown at her way as she walked with the other three laughing away at Deuce and Ace as they argued with each other once again with Grim on her shoulders. And unknowingly to her Crowley was watching her in the teacher meeting room, his yellow orb eyes following her until she was out of sight.

  
 **Night Raven College Teachers Meeting Room**  
“Headmaster?”  
Crowley snapped from his trans as Trein called from the front of the room where he was standing. Trein already finished his presentation about the his plans on the curriculum of this years history class as he called out to the headmaster, who was clearly not focusing(he planned to scold the headmaster about this later). Every teacher even including Sam was in the meeting room and now everyone looked toward the headmaster as he turned his head as he was called. Crowley just coughed and went out to the front of the room as it was his turn to give announcements to the teachers(and the shopkeeper).

“I guess that everyone had heard about or met the new girl student that has been enrolled here yes?” as Crowley finished everyone nodded. 

“I have to tell you I was surprised to see a girl when she was out in the field with the boys together. Almost mistaken them for one of the boys sisters until I saw her wearing the school's uniform." 

Ashton Vargas the PE teacher still wondered why Crowley allowed a girl from another world with no magic to enroll in the school. After all Night Raven College was school to grow your magic skills in the first place.

“So how is it going for the research for a way to get her back to their world?” Crewel asked as he tapped on the wooden tables of the meeting room.

"Actually Miss Mousley seems to prove to be more interesting than we thought."  
From his coat he pulled up a beige envelope he had kept and carefully handed it to Crewel for him to read. The seal had been open up but the red seals imprint of two stars were still visible to see.  
“This letter arrived just before the opening ceremony. Take a read.”  
Crewel who was kind of taken back from the headmaster’s sudden seriousness(since normally he would be all cheery and kind of be you know... his usual Crowley self) took the letter and opened it. The alchemy teachers eyes traced the letters that were written with an ink pen as he started to read the letter out loud for everyone to hear.

Dear headmaster of Night Raven College

First I would like to apologize for the short notice of this letter that is going to reach out to you on the day of the opening ceremony of Night Raven College. And if the spell had worked right a young girl named Lyla Mousley would have appeared in one of your carriages to attend the school. I am sure that the young girl is wondering why or how she had ended up in such a obscure situation all of a sudden but I regret that the whole situation is not a matter I can write down on just a single sheet of paper. All that I can say is that she will be a essential member to defend the evil beings that are about to come upon our world. I would have taken her as my apprentice but I am in no place at the time to help her learn. I will entrust her to you and the staff of the school to let her learn and grow for the time being. I have already sent help on her way to explain this situation in detail and aid her on her quest. Until then I hope that she will be fine within your care.

From sorcerer Yen Sid

"Yen Sid? Isn't that the great sorcerer from the unknown realm?"

"It appears to be so. I'm not really sure of the situation myself but it seems that Miss Mousley is more of a important figure that happened to appear in this world with a purpose. Along with a paint brush that can change the hearts of monsters that are made of paint that is." 

With his words Trein now got the letter in his hands and examined it closely. 

“Well this is undoubtedly the seal of the great sorcerer himself. There is a low chance that this letter is a fake. " Trein recalled the books he read about the great sorcerer as he touched the seal that shown two stars on it. The meeting room went into serious talk between the people within it. They spoke of telling this to the high council of magic or students of the college but they didn't get much answers on much of their questions or thoughts about this. After all they never really encountered a case like this before in the school. They didn't reach much to a conclusion on what to do with all of this.  
“I’m afraid that this ‘evil’ he called already found where Miss Mousley is. Those monsters she just took in are nothing like the monsters I seen before in the abandoned mines.” Crowley voiced his concerns.  
“So you’re suspecting that someone sent those little paint monsters after her?” Ashton asked from his seat in the meeting room and Crowley nodded at his words.   
“I already put a shielding spell around the whole campus including the other dorms. No one other than the students and us can enter and go out the campus freely. I advise everyone to look after Miss Mousley regarding her safety until this 'help' arrives. Sam can you keep an eye on her just to be safe?”

Upon the request from the headmaster himself Sam perked up his head with a grin.  
“I’ll send my friends on the other side on that case.” And hearing the shop keeper say that Crowley tried to not think much of the 'friends on the other side' which he spoke of.

And after that the meeting room was mostly silent. The teachers being deep in thought of the whole situation that was upon them as they tried to make sense of it.  
“I’m kind of surprised how the little pup is taking this in so well. Considering how she just got thrown into this mess and seems to be all calm about it.”  
Crowley hearing Crewel's comment almost flinched as he bit his lower lip trying hard not to break into cold sweat as he hoped no one noticed his panicked state. But to his unluckiness Trein was fast to notice his stressed state and glare at him with sharp thin eyes. Even the history teacher’s cat Lucius noticed it and let out a low meow in Trein's arms.  
“Headmaster you did tell the young lady about the letter didn’t you?”  
The headmaster utterly failed at looking calm and collected.  
“O-oof course I told the young bird about the letter. Why wouldn’t I?” Crowley said as he stuttered a bit on his words.  
If he wasn’t breaking cold sweat before he was now. Crowley’s stuttering only made it obvious he was telling lies through his mouth. Upon hearing this all of the teachers including Sam either looked at the headmaster with a judgmental look or looked very unamused.  
“You didn’t tell her didn’t you?”  
Trien said as he glared at the headmaster.  
“What in the names of the Great Seven made you think it was a good idea to keep this away from her?" Crewel said as he was baffled by the headmaster keeping such a huge secret from the girl in question.

"I understand what your concerns are but think about it. Miss Mousley has been thrown in our world from a magic less world. She is already having a hard time processing this. I'm simply giving her time to adapt here. For now I think it's best we just wait and see what's going to happen for the time being."

He got a good scolding from the teachers after what he said. He desperately wanted to get out of the room as the teachers argued with his choice. As Crowley called the meeting an end the teachers started to flood out the room either with heavy thoughts or uncertainty. Crewel gave a firm grip on the headmasters shoulders as he was about to pass by him by the door.   
“Crowley you can’t hide this from the darling forever. Eventually you’ll have to tell her about this.” Crewel then squeezed his shoulder as if he was giving a warning. He knew how the girl was, worrying on how she would go back to see her family again as she tried to adapt to the school. He couldn't help but feel bad for her with her situation. And hearing the letter about this evil and that the girl being a important asset in defending against it made him worry if the little pup could take this without being broken by the pressure.

"I know Divus. I know. For now I'm simply doing what's best for the young bird right now because I am so kind."

But was he doing what's best for her really?

_**The next day**_  
This was finally the day Lyla thought as she breathed in a deep breath before knocking on the headmaster’s office room door. After knocking and hearing the headmaster grant permission on entering she opened the door with a creak.  
“Headmaster?“  
Lyla called out to Crowley as she opened the headmaster’s office room door. But as soon as she entered the room with Grim the headmaster made no waste of time to shove a stack of papers into the girls arms with no explanation.  
“Oh you just came in the right timing Prefect! Can you take this papers down to Crewel please?” he said as he started to practically shove the girl out of the room. 

“Wait why are you giving me papers for!”  
Grim complained as he tried to balance the heavy stack of paper on his head as he was shoved back to the door. Not hearing much of her answer Lyla and Grim were thrown back to the hallway all dazed of what just happened.

_**After the first period** _

Lyla spotted the headmaster as she went through the hallways with Ace and Deuce. She proceeded to go near him.  
“Headmaster Crowley if you have the time sir there is something that I-“  
As she got closer to him she was about to ask for his time but Lyla was once cut off again with Crowley shoving a potted plant in her arms.

"Prefect you just came in the right timing once again! Can you be a dear and plant this in the botanic garden?"

The headmaster even handed potted plants to Deuce, Ace and grim as well earning a surprised yelp from each of them as they were suddenly handed a handful of pots. And just like that the headmaster just went away in a flash. Now he was just being so obviously suspicious.

"Where did he even pull those pots out?" Deuce asked as he looked at the pots in his arms having no clue on where the headmaster got them in the first place.

"No clue." Lyla said as she herself wondered about that.

"What are this things anyway?" Ace said as he curiously pulled on the plant that was in his arms. And just as Ace uncovered the roots of the plant a painful scream agonized the groups ears almost making them drop the pots in their arms. The other students passing by covered their ears in pain

"It's a mandrake!" Deuce said as he frowned in pain. But the group didn't catch it well through the screams. "What?" "IT'S A MANDRAKE!" Deuce shouted out.

"ACE PUT IT BACK IN!" Lyla now shouted. Ace quickly covered the plant back in the soil and the screams subsided making the group sigh with relief. 

_**While in third period** _

Crowley almost cursed to himself as he saw Lyla in one of the seats of the classroom on one of his surprise visits. He was on edge in his place where he examined the class as the girl looked at him with hopeful eyes that clearly meant she wanted to talk to him. 

"Headmas-" As just as she was about to call out to him the headmaster went for the door and waved back to the class.

"I'll be taking my leave early for today!" 

With that the door closed with a loud slam and Lyla just leaned her head in her text book and groaned in frustration. Grim who was by her side through the whole class just had a sympathetic look on his face as he patted the prefects shoulder.

After the fifth period Lyla completely gave up on talking with the headmaster for today. You didn't have to be a detective or a very observant person to know the headmaster was avoiding or rather shoving errand after errand to the girl to just not talk to her. Which made it more certain for Lyla that the headmaster was indeed hiding something from her. She scribbled in her notebook as she was under a shade of a tree near the open sports field. With their last period being PE Lyla, Grim, Ace and Deuce were under a tree resting as they just finished running along the tracks. With free time given to them the class were running along and playing sports which used magic and a disc from what Lyla could see.

“It doesn’t make sense…” Lyla muttered under her breath as she finished writing down something in her notes. She had made a notebook about what she found odd as she suddenly thrown into this world before she went to sleep last night.  
“What doesn’t?” Deuce asked after he downed a water bottle under the shade.

“You guys told me that before the opening ceremony we have to wear the robes in the carriage and go in the coffins then we wake up just before the ceremony right?”  
The two boys nodded at her words.

"Don't you find it kind odd the way I was sent here?" She asked out to the boys who was confused completely not knowing what she was finding odd.

“I don’t get what you’re trying to say here.” Ace admitted as Deuce nodded as well. Hearing their answer Lyla just sighed and went to explain it herself.

“Well someone had to strip me of my clothes or use some magic on me to change my clothes or something right? Not mention move me into the coffin before the ceremony started. It’s too odd for this to be just a random spark of magic that warped me from my world isn’t it? It’s like someone or something wanted me to go in this school on purpose.”

"Well now that you mention that it is kind of weird. Did you talk with headmaster about this?" Deuce asked to Lyla.

“Believe me I tried. But every time I try to talk to him he either starts avoiding me like the plague or shove more errands for me and Grim to do.”

Then the two boys brushed it off as the headmaster just being busy with his tasks which didn't really help for Lyla at all. The two boys went back to the field to take part in the game while Lyla just rested in the shade with Grim. After all the students wouldn't really welcome her if she was going to play in the game with them anyways. There was always next time she thought as she went back to her book about Twisted Wonderlands history with Grim sleeping in her lap. Her eyes went back to the chapter about the Valley of Thorns. There were so many places in this new world she was in and she couldn't help but want to see the land for herself as her eyes followed the fairy tale like history. After reading the page she was about to turn the page until someone in the picture caught her eye. Under the long texts of rich history was a picture of a group of men that were knights of the valley. The knight in the corner got her attention. The man looked very young or looked more of a young boy within the group of people. The picture was a little faded but she could tell that the knight had long dark hair with magenta streaks in it. She couldn't shake off the feeling she saw this person before. But where? 

Then she heard a rustle of leaves above her. She raised her head to see a smiling boy that was hanging upside down in the tree making her shriek in surprise resulting in making Grim wake up from his cat nap(?) from her lap.

"Oh my I'm terribly sorry for the scare. It wasn't in my intentions to give you such a fright."

"Who's this weirdo?!? And why is he upside down?"

Grim who was still shook about the sudden interruption of his nap time almost had his heart beat out of his chest in Lyla's arms. Poor thing. Lyla stroke him on the head to calm him down as she looked back at the boy who was still hanging upside down on the tree like a bat. Now that she had a good look on him she finally noticed who it was.

“You’re that guy back from the ceremony!” Lyla exclaimed.  
“Oh seems like you remember me. Sorry for the scare. I happened to see that you were reading that book and I just had to make an appearance. It’s not often that I see a student that reads that big old dusty book from the library that has me in it. ”  
Lyla’s eyes went back and forth to the picture in the book at the boy who was still smiling in his upside down position in the tree. The only difference between the picture was the hair length, his face didn’t change a bit from the picture at all.  
“So it’s really you in the book?”  
The young looking boy nodded.  
“But that would make you at least… over hundred years old.” 

The boy just smiled before her as he slightly swung on the branch.

"We age differently from humans after all. The names Lilia. Lilia Vanrouge. And what might be yours?" he introduced himself as he hanged upside down.

"Lyla Mousley." 

"What a lovely name." he hummed. Then while he was hanging from the tree with only his legs(which Lyla found amazing thinking about how long this boy hanged upside down on a tree branch) he looked at his phone to see the time. He looked rather disappointed.

"Oh dear as much as I want to keep chatting with you I'm afraid that my classes are about to start soon. See you around!"

And as quickly as he appeared in front of her Lilia just disappeared right in front of her in thin air. Lyla and Grim looked around to see no trace of the old fae anywhere in the fields.

"This place is full of weirdos." Grim said while yawning in Lyla's lap. And she couldn't agree more to the monsters words as she gripped her notes in her hands.

**_???_ **

In the lands of Wasteland where even the sorcerer that created the very land didn't know of was a forgotten structure by the sea. The structure mainly took the form of a huge whale with a few cracks here and there as it lied rusted by the waters of the sea with it's mouth slightly open making it the entrance of the massive structure. On top of it was a little water tower that didn't serve much propose with a horn in the front of it's head. The back of it had various buildings and unused theme park rides mashed together and within the middle of it was a worn out geodesic sphere of Spaceship Earth from Epcot with a few holes in it. The huge waterwheel beside it turned as a huge mechanic hand turned it manually as the roof puffed up black smoke. Within this structure were a huge number of the minions of The Blot walking around busily as they went with supplies or items to fix the place up. And in the the sphere structure was The Blot itself in front of an enchanted mirror as it impatiently paced back and forth in front of it, growling as it was thin of patience. Then the magic mirror imaged fuzzed a bit revealing an image of Big Bad Pete on the other side grabbing The Blot's attention quickly.

“Ah Pete I trust that your plan on getting the heart is still in motion?"

The Blot now took a small form of a human due to his weakening after it's defeat from the mouse and rabbit. The Blot waited for Pete's answer as Pete nervously gave a small chuckle.

"Well we did find the girl like you asked. She's in a school called Night Raven College cowering behind magic shields."

The Blot only hummed on his answer waiting for more news. 

“The only problem is that we can't find that pesky little mouse anywhere!"

The blot didn't use magic(it wasn't his magic to begin with actually) to send the forgotten toon to the other world just for him to bring in nothing. The Blot rubbed his temple and went back to the toon with a irritated look.

“Forget about the mouse then. If we just get the girl we will have access to both worlds in our grasps. Remember Pete if you fail to get the girl alive to me you will have to be the one to face the consequences along with your friends."

With a threatening growl and cold glare it was enough to make the toon on the other side to shake and make him gulp nervously.

"Understood boss!" the toon nodded eagerly as he shook in fear. And with that the image faded back into a mirror reflecting the image of The Blot itself. The Blot turned itself to the table that was set with a map of Disney and a globe of earth by the side. Plannings it's escape from the forgotten world The Blot's evil laugh echoed through the building. It will have the girl in their grasp and nothing was going to stand in it's way to get into the world of Disney and the _real world._ And not even a mouse with a paint brush or a human girl would be able to stop it.

* * *

**(Author here! Since I am new here on this site and new to writing fanfics and showing them to people I'm not sure if I'm doing things right. Like, do I make the chapters too long or use the same words too many times? I want to grow as a writer but I'm not really confident on how I write stuff so if you have any feedback you're always welcome to comment your thoughts. Also you're welcome to just talk about the fandom, point out references about disney or just comment questions about the fics or about me in general. I just like to interact with people so don't be shy on leaving a comment!)**

**(My Tumblr blog:<https://www.tumblr.com/blog/lets-start-writing>)**

**If my Tumblr blog doesn't appear just type 'lets-start-writing' on the search bar in Tumblr**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you don't know where you want to go it doesn't matter which path you take  
> -Alice in Wonderland(Cheshire Cat)-


	6. Lyla's Profile(Not a chapter)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers! I got bored and having extra time on my hands made a little profile about my Twisted Wonderland OC(Lyla Mousley). I made it like the character profiles in the Twisted Wonderland wiki. There are fun facts about her so I hope you enjoy this little update while waiting for the next chapter.  
> (Update: I updated the appearance on the dorm uniform bit. I thought a hoodie would suit her more better than a sweater so I changed it up.)

Lyla Mousley is a first-year student that was sent to Twisted Wonderland from Earth. She is the first ever girl student in the (former)all boys school and as well as the first ever student that doesn’t possess any magic abilities. And with her arrival into the magical world she was assigned as the supervisor of the Ramshackle Dorm as a staff member of Night Raven College and with her arrival she was given a magic paint brush that can defend against The Blot’s minions. 

**-Technical Information-**

(This would be the place where Lyla’s picture would be if I had drawing skills. I can't draw well lol)

“Ok what did those lovable idiots do this time?”

“Please don’t tell me its flying lessons for PE this time… I can’t trust a piece of wood to hold me up in the sky even if my life depends on it.”

“Does Crowley have _another_ errand for me? Ugh sometimes I wonder if he even takes his job as the headmaster seriously."

Name: Lyla Mousley

Voiced by: ???

(I don’t have a specific VA for her but I imagine she would sound like Mallory Bechtel who performed in Dear Evan Hansen. And I think the song ‘Hiding in Your Hands’ kind of portrays her life before she was sent to Twisted Wonderland. If you want to hear the song check the link here! <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZVMN70Kt8Y> )

**-Biographical Information-**

Gender: Female

Age: 18

Birthday: November 18

Starsign: Scorpio

Height: 160cm

Eye color: Onyx

Hair color: Black

Homeland: Earth

Family: Father, Grandmother, Grandfather

**-Professional Status-**

Dorm: Ramshackle

School Year: First

Class: 1-A

Occupation: Student, Prefect

Club: Light Music Club(Going to write about a side story about how she got in the club later)

Best Subject: Alchemy

**-Fun Facts-**

Dominant Hand: Right

Favorite food: Cheesecake

Least Favorite Food: Cucumbers

Likes: Animals

Dislikes: High places, Being mocked on the fact that she doesn’t have magic

Hobby: Collecting pins and badges

Talents: Singing, Whistling, Therapy(apparently)

**-Appearance-**

Lyla has black shoulder length hair that is slightly parted at the side along with curls that go in at the end of it. Her eyes are a dark onyx color and she wears a pair of black round glasses which her grandmother had picked out for her. She has a cute looking appearance but usually she has a serious face that sometime makes the students around her think she is not a easy person to get near to. She wears a little chain that's attached to her pants which has a little holder for the magic paint brush as she takes it with her at all times.

Her dorm uniform is just a slightly over sized raven colored hoodie that has a the white letters NRC printed on the side of the chest(a official school hoodie that no one seems to wear). Along with the hoodie she wears a pair of light colored jeans with sneakers since the Ramshackle Dorm isn't a official dorm of NRC. On her hoodie she has a golden pin shaped like a raven located where the letters NRC are located. 

On her school uniform she wears a white and black stripe ribbon along with a blue grayish vest and on her blazer pocket she has multiple small pins of the dorms pinned on it. 

**-Personality-**

She takes after her father and is often blunt and straight forward with her comments about things. Being raised by her strict father who wants to give a steady future for her she is good at studying and shows to be intelligent. Although she looks serious she is actually kind and gentle to talk to. Being influenced by her grandparents and Disney movies from her childhood she wishes to be helpful to people as she gives out helpful advice or kind words to the ones around her if needed. If the situation is in need of it she can come up with strategies, give guidance to the others and can be quite observant to little details that are overlooked. Being the mom of the group she acts responsibly and due to the shenanigans that the one braincell trio(Grim, Ace, Deuce) causes she is usually the one to help clean up the messes they make as well for the troubles that happen in NRC. 

**-Trivia and other funfacts-**

  * Lyla’s name is based on the Arabic word lyla which means ‘night’. And her last name is based on the word ‘mouse’.
  * Lyla is based on Mickey Mouse. Her appearance is often described that she looks like a cute little mouse.
  * Her school uniform vest is actually inspired by the color of the old opening castle scene in the beginning of Disney movies.
  * Her birthday date is the same month and day of the debut of Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie
  * Her mother left her father when she was little. Once they were officially divorced her father was heart broken and Lyla sworn to herself to make her father happy in anyway she can even going far as not showing her own sadness to her family. 
  * She remembers Disney songs and movies by heart and can sing very well.
  * She can whistle pretty good as well.
  * Her life back at earth is partly based on what I experienced back in my childhood and my days in middle school(more of her past will be covered later in the upcoming chapters)
  * Not a lot of people know about this(which she intends to leave it that way) but she has developed a small crush on one of the teachers. Just look at her best subject you’ll know who it is.



* * *

**(Author's Note: If you have any more questions about my OC ask through the comments!)**

**(My Tumblr blog:<https://www.tumblr.com/blog/lets-start-writing>)**

**If my Tumblr blog doesn't appear just type 'lets-start-writing' on the search bar in Tumblr**


	7. Lost in the Rabbit Hole

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear, it feels like the chapters keep getting longer and longer each time I update them😂

'Why did it have to be flying lessons? Just why did it have to be flying lessons?' Lyla silently thought to herself as her face went pale as she looked down at the piece wood in her hand. Currently class 1-A was on the sport fields of NRC for their first flying lesson. And Lyla couldn't be more desperate in need for a excuse to bail out of this lesson.

"Hey prefect you ok there?" Ace asked as he gripped his own broom in his hand.

The girl just nodded to the boy that was beside her.

"I just don't like the fact we have to trust a piece of wood to hold us up in the sky." she mumbled under her breath.

To translate that she meant that she was afraid of heights. She was always afraid of high places since she was little and as much as she didn't want it to show to others her face still shown it. Ace noticed this and didn't let the opportunity slip in his grasp.

"Hey it's only a few feet off the ground. Worst case scenario you'll just have to hold that piece of wood for your dear life if Grim messes up the charm spell." 

"Hey! I'm not going to miss this up ok?" Grim shouted from his position on the broom. "Not helping here!" the girl told the teasing boy as well with the monster.

"Just watch and learn!"

Ace just laughed it off while he took off from the sky from himself. Lyla eyes followed the Heartslabyul boys that were in the air ahead of her. They all seemed to be natural at this unlike her.

"I just have to charm this thing with my magic right?" the monster asked as he readied his magic ready for take off. As much as she wanted to bail out on this one she didn't have much of a choice if she wanted to have a passing mark on PE. Even if she was warped from her world into a land of magic she wasn't about to let a failing mark on her grades and she wasn't a person to easily give up on a task like this.

"Let's just get this over with." the girl said with a sigh reminding herself to control the broom so that they would fly just near the ground. Grim soon cast his magic on the broom in her hands and the piece of wood soon started to go up.

"Hey it's working human!" Grim said with excitement as the broom lifted off the ground. And soon enough the monster and the girl was up in the air with the other students. Aside from the excited monster that was in front of her Lyla on the other hand wasn't doing all that great. Her heart beat fastened as her feet got off the ground and her hands started to get cold.

But the monsters victory didn't stay for much long as the broom started to unstably make zig zag movements in the air. The broom started to go haywire with in the air doing tricks in the air in Lyla's horror.

"WAAAHhhhhhhhh!" Grim and Lyla shouted in the air. In the dizzy haze Lyla could barely make out the shouts of the teacher giving instructions.

"What's wrong with this thing!" the girl shouted out as she gripped the handle of the wood as if her life depended on it. 

The haywire broom suddenly went all still and started to drop down to the ground along with its's passengers sending them screaming. The two landed in the ground rather ungracefully as their bodies hit the grass. Grim and Lyla tumbled on the grass falling off of the broom groaning in pain.

"Prefect!"

Lyla could hear the two boys calling out to her as they were running toward the spot that she and Grim crash landed. The girl groaned along with Grim as she saw stars as she looked up to the sky as she was surrounded by the two boys looking worried down at her. Her PE uniform was covered with earth and blades of grass. Soon the boys worried faces were replaced by Mr.Vargas's face as he leaned down to see if she was alright.

"Miss Mousley and Grim are you ok?" the PE teacher asked in concern in his booming voice while trying to gently sit her up.

"Yes Mr. Vargas..." she told the teacher as she got hold of a hand from Deuce as he helped her get up. On the other hand Grim finally got his head out of the ground panting as he finally got air spitting out the dirt he got in his mouth as well. She soon got guided by Ace and Deuce to the bench and she remained there with Grim for the rest of the class(thankfully they didn't have major injures in the crash)

'Figures for a magic-less student and a monster that doesn't know magic.' one student from Diasomnia in her class whispered to another classmate.

'Have to admit it was kind of entertaining to watch that.' a boy from Scarabia snickered.

Her heart tightened as she heard the comments. It didn't seem like the students here were going to make her school life in NRC an easy one as she tried to live on her life in Twisted Wonderland.

She starts to wonder to herself.

_Why am I even here?_

**Ramshackle dorm - pass midnight**

_CRASH!_

"Huh?" Lyla jerked up from the bed with her black hair in a mess as she heard a loud sound coming from the lower floor as she woke up.

"Wha? What is it?" Grim now woke up as well with his eyes half lidded.

"I think I heard something from the first floor." the girl told the monster as she went off of the bed rubbing her eyes to rid of the sleep. Crept away from the warm sheets of the bed and her bare feet hitting the cold floor made her want to go back to the sweet warm embrace of the blankets of her clean bed. More sounds were heard followed with grunts. She was already tired from another day of school but she couldn't just ignore the sounds coming from the lower floor. Could it be a thief? she thought but she doubted that as she didn't have much to her name except for a small bundle of madols, a cell phone, and a magic paintbrush. Cautious of the sound Lyla got hold of the magic paint brush that was laying on a side table under a lamp and quietly went for the door with Grim tip toeing to the door as well.

As the two went down the stairs as quietly as they can they started to hear struggling and the babbles of the paint monsters from the entrance. Now on her guard Lyla took the paint brush in her hand in a defensive pose as she went for the door. Gripping the wood handle of the brush she approached the entrance with the monster by her side.

The two peaked out of the corner only to see Ace who was on the ground with the paint monsters piled on him as he did his best to get them off as he struggled.

"Ace?" Lyla called out as she lowered the paint brush down seeing that the intruder was her only her friend. Now having a clear look of the situation it seemed like Ace sneaked in and the paint monsters seeing him as an intruder tackled him on the spot. 

"Prefect! Tell this monsters to get off of me!" the boy grunt as he struggled to get up.

Seeing his desperate efforts the prefect just sigh and inhaled ready to give orders to the monsters to cut it out.

"Sleepy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Hungry and Greg get off of Ace right now!" the prefect spoke in a stern hard voice to the paint monsters.

And the prefects orders the paint monsters quickly got off of the Ace as they scrambled off of him. Well except for one that was still going for Ace's leg while gurgling with frustration. Ace desperately pushed away the monster as it gurgled once again with frustration.

"You named this monsters?" the boy said finding it kind of odd that she even named this creatures at the first place. 

"Well I had to call them something if I wanted to make them behave." she twirled the paint brush in her hand and pointed to a paint monster that was dozing off. Next to the monster was a paint monster that was rubbing his tummy like it was hungry and thinking of food.

"The one dozing off is Sleepy, the one trying to bite your leg is Grumpy, the one rubbing his tummy is Hungry, that one is Sneezy."

And as if the monster got it's cue the one she pointed at sneezed because of a speck of bust that landed on its face then the monster shook his head. Then she pointed at a monster that was.... just there wondering the situation before itself as it tilted it's head with his huge eyes looking at Lyla.

"And that's Greg!" the girl said as if she was proud of the names she had given to the monsters. And with that Grim just crossed his arms as he didn't looked impressed at all as he heard the names once again.

"She isn't really creative with names." the monster said with a unimpressed tone.

"Hey! I did the best I could ok? Forget about that, Ace why are you here in middle of the night? And with a collar of all things?"

And the boy started his evening today at his dorm. Apparently he angered his dorm leader because he ate one of the dorm leaders tarts that was in the fridge.

"That's it? You just ate his tart and got collared for it?" Lyla said not all that amused with Grim by her side.

"Hey what's with that kind of dry emotionless reaction? He just collared me because of one tart!"

"Well it is your fault that you ate someone's tart without asking in the first place. Your the one that has to apologize to him."

Seeing the stern look that was coming from the prefect Ace had a betrayed look on his face.

"All right! I'll apologize to him but I'm not going back to the dorm today and see that red haired tyrant again! Please let me stay here!"

Hearing his desperate plead for help Lyla could only sigh.

"You can stay but I'll only let you stay here if you promise me that you will behave here ok?" she said while spared herself from a headache as she pinched the bridge of her nose. 

The boy's eyes brightened as she approved.

"But you can't sleep in the other rooms though. The other rooms are still completely covered in dust. Or you could always clean one for yourself." Grim said as he hoped that some of his labor for cleaning this place up would shorten a bit.

"No way I'm cleaning one of the rooms. Prefect I'm pretty slim! You can let me sleep in your bed with Grim right?"

The girl just grabbed a small pillow from the couch and threw it to Ace's face earning a soft 'oof' from the boy as he caught it just in time. She wasn't going to let a boy sleep in her bed when she only met that said boy a few days ago. Even if he was her friend she wouldn't allow that.

"Tch stingy. Ok! I'll just sleep here all alone on this old hard couch!"

"Pouting won't do much good for you Ace. Good night!" Lyla not really fazed by all of Ace's complains she just went up the stairs as she yawned not even looking back to the boy as she did. Grim giggled as he went up the stairs as well smirking at Ace as he did so. 

**Deep in the night**

In the night when everyone was asleep the tv in the living room area of Ramshackle dorm suddenly turned on. But it didn't produce much of a image though as the screen was covered with static and blurring all images that it displayed. Unknowingly to the boy in front that was sleeping on the couch a silhouette of a rabbit appeared in the screen of the old tv. The blurred image of the rabbit started to hit on the glass making a tapping sound of glass.

"Hel- *static and buzzing* .......lo? L-y*static* a? Can *buzzing* any........ hear......... me?"

The sounds from the tv didn't really come out that clear from the other side as if something was bothering the signal. The boy stirred in his sleep frowning as he turned his body away from the tv. Ace covered himself with the blanket and groaned as he tried to go back to sleep ignoring what was happening to the tv. And the little noises of the tv and the bright light continued for quite some time making Ace toss and turn in his sleep for the rest of the night.

Lyla had a strange dream that night. She dreamt of card soldiers and roses that were needed to be paint red before the queen of hearts saw them. Maybe she was hanging out with the Heartslabyul boys too much she thought as she shook her head returning to the current situation. She was now wide awake with Grim ready for the new day as she already wore the her uniform of NRC. She frowned as she looked behind the tv after Ace said that last night he had trouble sleeping because the tv was going hay wire or something.

"Ace are you sure that the tv just turned on with static just by itself?" she asked to Ace as she looked at the behind of the tv with a frown on her face.

"Well I wouldn't be surprised if this place had electricity problems. But Ace I hate to break it to you but... this thing isn't even plugged in."

"WHAT?" Ace shouted as he got close to her to see for himself.

The plug of the tv was indeed unplugged. And it seemed like it not used for a long time seeing that the electric outlet for the thing was covered in dust that seemed to be collecting for years.

"Did you guys have to do something with this?" Lyla said as she looked at the ghosts that lived the Ramshackle dorm with a glare.

"Don't look at us! We didn't prank anyone last night! Right boys?" The skinny ghost looked at his friend and they all nodded. Well it didn't seem like the ghost pranked Ace out of boredom either.

"You sure it wasn't just a dream?" the little monster asked to Ace as she crossed his arms not really believing what he claimed to see the night before.

"Why I would lie about something like this? I'm telling you I heard it buzz and go in static!"

The boy claimed as he huffed out.

"Okok enough of this. If we don't go now we'll be late. Hey guys make sure the monsters don't go out of this place while we are out got it?" the girl looked at the band of ghosts as she grabbed the paint brush from the coffee table. And the band of ghosts saluted to her on her way. Settling aside what happened last night as just a silly dream that Ace had(he denied it and strongly said he indeed saw the tv turn on itself) soon the group left the dorm to start a new day of school.

**Night Raven College Cafeteria**

Over the lunch period Ace had explained the events that happened to Deuce as well as they ate. And once again Ace was met with a dry reaction from Deuce as he as well advised Ace to apologize to Riddle immediately. 

"You can't stay like that forever. If you want to pass the classes you'll have to get your magic back from the dorm leader."

"Deuce is right." Lyla chimed in as well.

"Why is no one siding with me here? Come on!" Ace said while slumping down the table.

The group was pretty much stuck on how to get Riddle to remove the collar from Ace as they discussed as they ate lunch. But soon two students from Heartslabyul came up to the groups usual table in the cafeteria. One boy had a cheerful and outgoing aura around him and the other boy that had green hair had a warmer and kind expression. The two approached the group on their lunch period.

"Hey! How are my two favorite freshie's doing today?" the one with orange hair said as he patted Ace and Deuce on the shoulders making them almost drop their lunch as a result.

"Who are this guys?" Grim asked from Lyla's arms.

"This is Cater and Trey. Their upperclassmen from our dormitory." Deuce explained to Lyla and Grim as he gained his cool back from the sudden appearance of the older students.

"We heard all about the collar incident with Ace so we thought we could help." Trey said as he looked at Ace's heart shaped collar.

"Seems like our dorm leader is quite in the mood lately. Considering this is the tenth time this week." Cater said as he shook his head looking troubled.

Tenth time in the week? But it was...

"But it's only Monday?" Lyla pointed out. How much of a guy had to be in a mood for him to collar students in a span of one day?

"It used to be three or four per day actually." Cater said that as if it was an normal thing that happened. "Your the new girl student that everyone has been talking about! Nice to meet you! Like Deuce said my name is Cater and this guy is Trey the vice dorm leader of our dorm!"

Trey waved to the girl as he smiled.

It turns out that Trey is a pretty good baker. So he offered his help to bake another batch of tarts for the Unbirthday Party under one condition. That condition being the first years had to gather all the ingredients to the kitchen which the first years agreed upon.

"So Lyla I heard from these guys that you were from another world! What was it like back at your world? Was your school life almost as exciting as here? Oh I bet you had many friends as well seeing how quickly you got close to Ace and Deuce." Cater asked all excited wondering about the new girl that was enrolled in the school.

"Well it was..." the girl trailed off. She wasn't really used to people talking to her this much or asking questions like the peppy upperclassman did. And to be honest she didn't really have much of a exciting school life at all or did she had many friends. Many memories of her school back at home was not a memory that she was fond of.

Seeing her hesitant reaction to Cater's questions Trey had jumped in just in the right moment to her relief.

"Now now Cater don't bug the first year student that much she already has enough on her shoulders. We still have to paint the roses in the garden before the party remember?"

"Ah! I totally forgot about that! Riddle will have our heads if he finds out the roses weren't all painted in time!"

The two upperclassmen quickly waved good bye to the group just like that and went away. 

'Painting roses? Why does this oddly fit my dream so well?' Lyla thought as she looked at Cater and Trey go out.

Lyla could feel that she could get along with this Trey guy. After all he seemed like a type of person that acted like the mother of a group and he actually offered help. Now to think of it he seemed like a decent person compared to the boys she met until now(not like she didn't like the boys in her group that is but to be honest they could be a handful to look after). And for Cater? He overall seemed like a nice guy to hang out with though his peppy personality was maybe a tad bit much for her to get used to. She sighed to herself as she leaned in one of her hands as she looked at the entrance.

"Why is that since I came to this school I keep getting dragged into things I didn't really ask for?" she muttered quietly.

Well at least there was a benefit of eating sweet desserts. And she really can't deny freshly baked treats can she?

**Saturday at NRC**

Unfortunately for the bunch the street vendors and Mr Sams shop didn't open on Saturdays when they were planning to buy the stuff they needed to make the tarts. Improvising on their plans the four decided on going to the Rose Kingdom's shopping district to buy the stuff they needed. Lyla upon hearing the plan couldn't hold in her excitement as she wanted to see the world outside of the campus ground herself. She only saw pictures and words about the separate parts of Twisted wonderland. The Port of Delight, Land of Pyroxene, Afterglow Savanna, Rose Kingdom, The Valley of Thorns. Those names gave a kick in her sprite for adventure and curiosity. She quickly ran through the hallways schools that were lit with green flames with Grim to reach their meeting place with the other boys. 

"Pfft ahahaha! Prefect what's with your clothes there?" Ace laughed as his eyes soon met the Prefect who had their causal clothes on for the weekend. She was wearing one of the old official school hoodies that was really outdated. Even Ace didn't see his old brother wear one of those things when he went to NRC before him. The hoodie itself was a simple design. It was entirely dyed in the colors of a raven except for the white words NRC sown on the chest. The hoodie itself was slightly over sized for the girl as the sleeves covered her hands and body making the tip of her hands poke out. The only thing that stood out from the bland design was the NRC symbol pin that was pinned near the words(she found it in Mr. Sam's shop when she went shopping with Grim). 

"It's was the only piece of decent clothing that was comfortable and not flashy to wear in this place ok?" she recalled all the clothes she had brought from Mr Sams shop that one day. She felt a little self-conscious about her choices after Vil had judged her pick of clothes. But she didn't have much of a choice to begin with since the all the clothes she liked in school store was too expensive to buy with her limited allowance from the headmaster. 

Deuce was doing his best to hold in a small laugh but he soon broke as well leaving the girl glaring at them as she adjusted her glasses and went ahead of them to the mirror chamber herself with the monster.

"This already getting tiring." Grim complained on Lyla's shoulder as he slumped.

Lyla who was out in front opened the massive wooden door of the chamber with a creak. And going into the room reminded of the time she first arrived here all confused and scared as she didn't know where she was. It was a few days ago but it seemed like so long ago making her worry about her family back at home all of a sudden.

The group approached the big mirror and soon enough a face appeared on the glass.

"Destination?" the mirror asked as it already knew what the students wanted.

"The Rose Kingdom." Ace spoke out to the mirror. The mirrors reflection was soon replaced by a wide area that had other mirror at the other side that had people with going around in and out as well. 

"Hey Prefect isn't this the first time you're going out of the dormitory?" Deuce asked to the girl as she was excited to see new area's aside from the campus. Lyla nodded at the boys words.

"Deuce you should hold her hand while we get through the shopping district. Bet we'll lose her and Grim because of their short height." Ace said with a teasing grin of his. "Wha- thats-" and Deuce started to stutter on his words as his cheeks brightened a bit. 

"Hey I'm not a child ok? In fact I am-"

Lyla's words were cut off suddenly as her face met with an invisible wall in front of her as she was about to cross the mirror.

"Hey what gives?" Lyla remarked as she rubbed her forehead that slightly hurt from the impact. She felt the invisible wall as she extended her hand out.

Grim walked up to the mirror and extended his paw out as well with the prefect. But unlike the girl his paw just went through fine.

"Huh? I can go through this thing just fine."

Now Ace gave it try and he as well went through without the invisible hitting him either.

"Me too. Hey spooky mirror mask thing why can we go through and she can't?" Ace asked out to the mirror as he retreated his hands with the others.

"The shields were set up because of the orders by the headmaster himself to protect the students of the school. No outsider can enter this place without the approval by the headmaster. Students of Night Raven College and staff members are the only ones allowed to enter and leave the shield freely." the mirror told the group and he didn't seem that amused as Ace called him a 'spooky mirror mask thing'.

"But how come we can go through and she can't?" Grim asked out to the mirror.

"It was requested from the Headmaster himself to stop the girl from getting to other places."

The girl frowned upon the mirrors words. Not only the Headmaster was hiding something from her but he was also not letting her get out of the campus? She had enough of unanswered questions now. Determined to see the matter of this Lyla stepped away from the mirror and went toward the door behind them.

"Hey where you going?" the Deuce called out to the girl who had already opened the door. 

"You guys go without me. I'll meet you in the kitchen ok?" she said as she went ahead not hearing a reply from the boys that were left behind. The three boys looked at each confused at the unexplained leave of the Prefect as they stood in the mirror chamber by themselves.

**Headmaster's Office**

Lyla was much aware of the fact that Crowley worked on the weekend as well since she had to run errands again for the headmaster when she tried to talk to him on the weekends before. She boldly knocked on the door three times and waited for a response.

"Come in." the headmaster replied.

Opening the door she was greeted with the image of Crowley seated on his chair. Paper work was settled on the desk as he stopped his pen from writing about. His coat that resembles a ravens wings was hanging on a coat hanger with his top hat.

The girl who entered his office had determined and a flare of emotions cross her face that he couldn't really know of and he started to gulp as he was nervous.

"The mirror said that I can't get out the campus because of your spell. Why can't I leave outside the school grounds?"

Oh so she came here to ask about that Crowley thought. Crowley put down the pen he was holding with a sigh. He was expecting that the girl was going to eventually find out he had locked her in the campus in due time. But he didn't think it would be this soon that she wanted to go out of the grounds of the campus. 

"Miss Mousley those shields are up because of your safety."

"My safety?" 

"You don't have any magic abilities to defend yourself in this world. And it would be best that you stay put in the grounds of the campus to avoid attacks from monsters since they inhabit wide areas in our world."

Magicless

She knew it was just his concern for her safety but it still kind of stung to the heart. She wasn't all that incapable from protecting herself. The way she defended against the monsters back at the mines proves that right?

Well if it wasn't for Ace, Deuce and Grim and their magic she wouldn't have gone through that all in one piece. And if she didn't have the magic paint brush in her hands what would have happened then? Now standing before the Headmaster and hearing his reason she didn't have all much to argue. And if there was a situation she had to fight against something or someone in this world could she really survive? 

"I know you are concerned and maybe feel uneasy thinking that you are trapped in here but the gracious me is only concerned about your safety as a fellow student of my school. It is the job of the headmaster to take care of his students is it not?"

And for once Crowley had actually seemed to be serious all out this which made Lyla's reason to argue with him die down even more.

"I guess so..." she said not all that confident as before as she came in the office to get some answers.

"Don't worry Miss Mousley I will try and sort out something if you so desire to leave the school grounds so desperately."

He even gave a small smile of reassurance as he said those words. It didn't seem like he had a dark motive to put up a shield that trapped her in the school grounds and he even said he was going to find a way for her to leave the school grounds if she wanted to. Maybe he was only concerned of her safety then?

"If that's all that you had to ask I'll have to ask you to leave little bird as I still have a lot of work to do." the headmaster said as his eyes went back to the paperwork.

Lyla slightly bowed her head to him and thanked him for his time as she went for the door. She opened the door only to stop when she was about to go out.

"Actually Headmaster Crowley there is something more that I wanted to ask to you sir." she said while turning back.

Once again the headmaster stopped his writing and raised his head to look at the girl. A pause was between them as he waited for her question hoping that she didn't already notice that he was hiding something from her.

"I clearly don't belong here with students that can use magic. Why have you chosen me to be in this school?" the girl finally asked.

The sudden question of her's made the all so kind headmaster taken aback. 

"Haven't I already told you young bird? Your presences is much need here for the school to change!"

She already knew what Crowley had told her that day when she and Grim was accepted. But how? she thought as she slightly gripped on the door knob. What kind of part of her can make a school of full of selfish and uncooperative boys change she wondered.

She looked at the headmaster for the last time before she walked out of his office and she finally asked the question that she was trying to ask many times before she confronted him about the shields today.

"Is there something that your not telling me here Headmaster?" she asked the final question that was on her mind.

Crowley almost choked with the heavy air between him and the girl as he felt like he was being interrogated by an officer. 

"Little bird I assure you if there was something I had to tell I would have already told you." he managed to croak out without making it seem like a lie. The girl looked at his orb yellow eyes as she was confused and not sure if he was telling the truth or not. He could be still lying but it didn't seem like it was a best time to question the headmaster further since he could still shove another errand at her as an excuse to send her away again. The girl only nodded and went through the door with her mind a tangled mess as she walked the lit hallways of the school as she went for the hall of mirrors.

There were so many things in her mind that she couldn't get a clear answer with.

_Why did she get a magic paint brush that appeared in her dreams?_

_Who or what made her warp from her world to Twisted Wonderland and for what purpose?_

_Can she ever find a way to return back home to her family?_

_And..._

_Is it even possible for her to change a school when she just a girl that doesn't have magic in a magical world where she doesn't fit in?_

* * *

**(Author's note: Why Greg you ask? I ran out of names to give to the Spatters😂)**

**(My Tumblr blog:<https://www.tumblr.com/blog/lets-start-writing>)**

**If my Tumblr blog doesn't appear just type 'lets-start-writing' on the search bar in Tumblr**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do not be followed by its commonplace appearance. Like so many things, it is not what is outside, but what is inside that counts.
> 
> -Merchant (Aladdin)-


	8. You're Unwelcome

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realized I only saved this as a draft and not upload this in time sorry guys!🙃😭😱  
> A lot happened since I posted the last chapter. I applied for college and took my last exam before graduation and it was a whirlwind of busy stuff I had to take care of😭. For now I'm gonna have to wait on the results and hope that I get into a college that I applied for. To make up for the lost time from now on I'll be more frequent with the updates and make the chapters more longer than the last chapters since I have free time.

Deep within the Abandoned Dwarfs Mine if you took a mine cart to the deepest part and go through the complex maze like path in a specific way you would reach a makeshift camp of the blots small army. And along these small minions was a old forgotten toon named Pete Pan and Small Pete. In a wooden platform with various items like a wooden table, stools, barrels of food and supplies, tnt sticks and crystals of some sorts the two forgotten toons dozed off in their separate stools. Despite having spatters working busily carrying supplies or working to move magic gems and stones the two Pete's were snoring and didn't mind much of the sounds that were around them as they slept all care-freely. Well that was until Big Bad Pete came up with some heavy looking gear in a wagon that is. The old forgotten toon upon seeing his other versions of himself slack off and snooze like there was nothing important going on huffed in annoyance and stomped on the wooden deck floor making the other toons jerk awake from their sleep in surprise.

"Looks who's slacking off on their duties!" Big Bad Pete crossed his arms as he looked down at his identical others as he returned back to the mines.

"I told you two watch on that little girl and see if anything happens!" Big Bad Pete grunted as he set the wagon down aside.

Small Pete regained his balance on his stool before he was sent to the wooden deck floor just in time and got back up to his seat.

"What is the use if we can't get through the shields to get there anyway? That headmaster of that school there was quick to put a shield after that stunt in the mines back awhile." Small Pete said as he got off of the stool he was sleeping on mumbling about his sleep being bothered.

"Yeah what he said." Pete Pan chimed in as well.

Hearing the two toons Big Bad Pete just shook his head and shown what he had brought back from Wasteland. The wagon consisted of many things from little things you could simply throw or heavy gear that needed help to carry.

"Well when you two were sleeping off of your duties I got ahead and got some sweet little trinkets from Prescott to aid our mission." Big Bad Pete said while presented what he had brought as he puffed out his chest. After he did he motioned the two other Pete's to follow him out the mines in order to plot a plan to get the little girl for the boss(aka the Blot). Pete was tired of being forgotten and wasted in the world of Wasteland(no pun intended). If this plan of the Blot really worked he and his other versions could have a chance to get back on the screens in the Toon world! He would just have to suck it up and do The Blot's dirty work until they had the girls heart in order to get to Toon world. Big Bad Pete thinking of all the glory and fame he would get when he got to the Toon world chuckled darkly to himself quietly. Taking a winding path the three toons got up to a big mirror that was set up on the stone wall of the cave. Passing through the mirror the three toons pushed away the plant vines that were covering the well hidden mirror and entered a forest that was just outside the magic shield that was surrounding Night Raven College. The three toons reached a corner that no student or teacher set foot and Big Bad Pete set the wagon down and went through the gadgets that he got from Prescott. The old toon took out a small flat round device that fit right in his palm.

"If I heard it right this little thingamajig can take down the shields temporarily for us in order to nab the girl. Now observe. " after he said those words Big Bad Pete smiled wickedly as he aimed for the shield.

The toon threw the flat round device to the shield. As it was assigned to do it stuck on the shield and with that the toons took cover in a bush and covered their ear as well as close their eyes shut.

They waited...

Waited...

But nothing happened.

The three old toons peeked from their hiding spot only to see the device was now on the ground. The thing was giving off little streams of smoke as it looked badly fried.

"Are ya sure you used that right?" Small Pete asked as he looked at the fried device on the ground that was admitting smoke.

"Of course I was SURE! I must have been bad luck let's try another thing here."

Huffing about the failure before Big Bad Pete rummaged through the wagons pile to pull out a shooter with a suction cup as it's end. After he aimed for the shield he fired. But rather than the machine did the thing it was intended to do it shocked Big Bad Pete and got fried as well as Pete threw it down with a yelp.

The toon now pulled out a device that had an antenna that was meant to jam the magic shield for a bit for them to enter. But the device failed as well as it was fried as soon as it was switched on.

For the last attempt the toon brought out a drilling device that looked rather heavy and held it toward the shield as his buddies looked at him uneasily thinking his plans wouldn't be that much effective.

And their guess was indeed right as the only thing the machine managed to do was make Big Bad Pete electrified as the drill hit the surface of the shield while the shield itself wasn't altered a bit. Badly toasted by the magic shield the toon just dizzily walked a bit before he groaned and his heavy body hit the ground with a thud. Pete Pan and Small Pete looked down at their friend with concern for their lives as Big Bad Pete was unconsciously seeing stars rotate above him.

"This is going to take a while..." Pete Pan said with a nervous tone.

"No kidding..." Small Pete grunted as he crossed his arms.

It would have to take a miracle for them to pull off this kidnapping scheme. And a miracle they would get. 

* * *

"Those guys really left me behind..." Lyla said with a sigh as she went through the hallways of NRC.

Beside all of the painful attempts that the old forgotten toons were currently having Lyla was having a tiring day at NRC. It was the day after the first year group had made the tarts for Riddle in order to let Ace get Riddle's unique magic off of him and help him get back to this dormitory. Truth to be told the process of baking the tart was actually pretty fun than she expected. Well there was an encounter of delinquents with Deuce as they shopped for eggs at Mr. Sam's Mystery Shop but Deuce dealt with it fine as he shown his bad boy side of him that he displayed in the mines way back they first met. Though he could be troublesome among side Ace and Grim sometimes Lyla had to admit Deuce was a sweet guy. And that respect for him got higher as he heard his story as he helped with the groceries but she almost laughed as she broke the egg and chick thing to him as he shouted in despair for his mistaken knowledge. The day even got better for her as she got to taste her grandma's traditional cheesecake thanks to Trey's magic. If this all went through according to plan Ace would be back to his dorm in no time the girl thought. Today she was going to the cafeteria alone with Grim since Mr Crewel asked Lyla to help clean up the equipment from alchemy class as the boys excused themselves that they had to 'get their usual seats in the cafeteria to discuss their plan before anyone gets there'(she knew it was just because they didn't want to help with the clean up).

"Well what did you expect from them?" Grim chuckled from her arms as they went to the cafeteria where the other two were. 

Just as she walked along the path she then heard someone call for her in the distance. As the girl halted the monster in her arms started to look up her because of the sudden stop to their merry way to the cafeteria.  
"Oi human why are you stopping suddely. Our snacks are waiting you know?" Grim complained in her arms.  
"Didn't you hear someone call out to us?"  
The monster soon got quite and soon knew what she meant as he started to hear someone as well calling out from the distance.

She was pretty sure she heard someone shout toward her as she looked around for the origin of the sound. As the sound got more evident she whipped her head to see someone run toward her in a fair amount of distance from afar. Lyla squinted her eyes toward the person as she held Grim in her arms.

It was still a far distance between them but Lyla could clearly tell who it was by their tall height and voice. It was the Octavinelle student named Floyd who she bumped into in the cafeteria before. Floyd was coming toward them running in top speed as he called out 'Little Shirmp!' as he neared.

"Why is he running toward us like that?" Lyla said as she looked at the tall Octavinelle student running toward them in concerning speed. She was reminded of her last encounter with them and Lyla didn't feel like this was just a friendly little encounter as she stood there frozen in the spot thinking about what to do. And reflecting over last time she was pretty sure she heard about something abotu squeezing that made her more concerned about being squeezed to death by the tall student.

Grim now started to squirm in panic and feared for the worst as he recalled Floyd talking about squeezing them back before as well.

"We need to hide! I don't want to get squeezed by that guy! Run human!!!!" Grim said as he panicked in Lyla's arms as the student from Octavinelle drawn closer to them. Taking no waste of time upon hearing the monsters plead in fleeing Lyla snapped from her thoughts and immediately started running as Grim screamed 'WAAAHHHHH' in her arms.

Without looking behind her she ran and ran breathless and went near for the cafeteria as she ignored all of the other students stares as she ran pass with a screaming monster in her arms. She reached near the courtyard and managed to jump into hiding in a bush with panting breathes. Her heartbeat quickened as she checked out of the bush if he was still following her. What did she had to do just to have a quite life in a magic school before she could go back home she thought as she sighed in relief as she didn't see the Octavinelle student anywhere.

"Are we playing hide and seek now little shrimp?"

With the sudden voice behind her Lyla jumped in surprise and whipped around to see that Floyd right near her personal space and somehow managed to come close to her without a sound. Poor Grim just jumped in her arms and shook. Floyd just had a big teasing grin on his face as if this was all amusing to him then he looked at her with a pout as he frowned.

"It was fun to run after you like that but why did you run from me?" he shown a sulking face as he said so.

Was he joking? Lyla looked with disbelief as she looked straight at the boy in front of her. 

"Well anyone would be intimidated if someone taller than you just came running up to you like that in full speed!" Lyla managed to blurt out as she backed away.

As she blurted those words out Floyd's playful grin came back as he looked at her with amusement.

"Ah was Little Shrimp and Little Seal scared? I only just wanted to go to the cafeteria since it seemed like you were going there."

"Wait did you just call me a seal?" hearing himself being called a seal Grim got out of his afraid state and huff out in annoyance but still remained in Lyla's arms.

Aside the annoyed monster in her arms Lyla looked at Floyd with disbelief as she contemplated if she heard his words right. Most of the students of NRC had a hostile thing toward her for the most parts. She was kind of taken back to see someone in NRC even wanted to go to the cafeteria together aside from her usual trio.

"Hey if your done playing hide and seek can we go now? This is starting to get boring." Floyd said as he stood up from the bush to go toward the cafeteria.

Floyd's playful grin disappeared was replaced with a emotionless face. From the look of his face Lyla scrambled and got up from the ground to follow him.

"But why go with me?" Lyla asked as she hoped to get an answer for his sudden action to get to the cafeteria all of the sudden.

"I just felt like it." Floyd simply answered beside her.

From the interaction and past encounter with this guy Lyla quickly noticed Floyd was kind of unpredictable and hard to know what he was exactly thinking. And she reached to the conclusion that she wouldn't get any clear answer of his sudden mood to accompany her. Maybe it was just pure interest she hoped as she tried to shake away the thoughts of this being some scheme or plan to get close to her from Azul. She knew it wasn't really right to accuse someone like that but ever since she got here in NRC and how the students outside of her group treated her she couldn't really relax one bit. She just hoped that for the rest of the after school period no unexpected things would happen to her.

Unfortunately she was terribly wrong.

"Why is _he_ here with us?" Ace asked as he looked at the Octavinelle student that was uninvited to this gathering. Floyd on the other hand didn't really mind and just munched on some snacks me managed to buy in the cafeteria. Actually it was Floyd who followed her to the table and just sat there beside her and Lyla didn't really have the heart to say to tell him he should get another seat. It wasn't much of a secretive meeting anyway so she just went with the flow to avoid more trouble.

"He just wanted to sit with us." Lyla said with begging eyes not to question it as other two boys looked at her and to Floyd with uncomfortable eyes when he wasn't paying much attention. As she looked around the other students in the cafeteria getting snacks to eat as well after a day of school she noticed a fair amount of other Heartslabyul students wore collars as well. It seemed like the closer the Unhappy Birthday came closer the more students got collared. 

Well speaking of the collar problem...

"Hey freshies!" Cater greeted the the first group students as he set the tray of drinks followed by Trey with the snacks.

Approaching the table the upperclassmen saw Floyd sit with Lyla and greeted him regardless. "Oh hey Floyd came to join us for a snack as well?" As Cater greeted him Floyd only nodded toward him lazily and went to drink his soda as he looked rather uninterested of the situation.

Cater handed Lyla her warm green tea as he naturally took the next seat to her as Trey sat with the other boys from across.

"God the cafeteria is crowded with guys chatting about the two new teachers that are going to come." Cater said as he pulled out his phone to take photo's of his drink for his magicam.

Upon hearing this Deuce and Grim almost choked on their drinks as they didn't hear this news before hand. "Wait we're getting new teachers?" Deuce said as he wiped the little of his drink he managed to spill on his lips.

"Crowley pretty much told us this morning Deuce. Didn't you pay attention to the announcement he was giving?" Trey said. Actually Deuce wasn't the only one who didn't pay attention to the morning gathering. Grim and Ace pretty much slept through it as well as far as Lyla knew.

"Isn't it exciting? We're getting new teachers and have the first ever girl student here this year. Things are really getting interesting around these parts~🎵" Cater snapped pictures of his drink as he said so. The following conversation continued with just casual stuff of school before it went straight about the tart situation. Floyd was continued to just listen in as he sipped on some juice and stole some snacks once and a while.

"Prefect Ace didn't give you much trouble while staying in your dorm did he?" Trey asked as a polite manner as he got the snacks.

And as soon as she heard this Lyla gave him a tired face and sighed.

"Barely managed Grim before he used his fire to fried him because he took his snack. Please take him back." Lyla didn't hesitate to give him an straight up answer which he replied with smile of sorry on his part.

"Hey how would I have known it was his?" Ace said in his defense which Lyla just reacted to with glaring at him. "It literally had his name on it Ace. Anyway your going to give that tart to him tomorrow right?" Lyla was smiling but it felt like something chilling was behind it as Ace flinched.

"Yeah Yeah I'm gonna ok? But it's really a shame to just give this to him because of some stupid ru-" Ace was immediately cut off on his words by Deuce as he frantically covered his mouth with his hand. "SSSSShhhhhh Do you think it's wise to talk about the dorm leader like that with him over there?" Deuce said as he pointed out where Riddle was in the cafeteria. As Cater said it was a good call on Deuce Lyla turned around to see the red hair boy. Even in a far distance between them Lyla could clearly see that Riddle wasn't really in a good mood as he looked down at his pocket watch as he waited in line. It only made Lyla feel uneasy as she thought of tomorrow. And it didn't really help that she had a dream about the Queen of Hearts taking card soldiers to get beheaded. She couldn't really shake off the feeling that something unpleasant was going to happen tomorrow at the Unbirthday Party. 

"Do...Do you guys really think its ok if I go with you guys to the party?" Lyla carefully rolled out the question on the table as she held her warm drink in her hands.

Cater who was distracted with his phone now looked up and looked at her as if she said something unbelievable.

"Of course you can go! Why would you say that?" he said.

She continued to explain what happened before with Riddle. First with the day she arrived then the little run in she had with the list of items and the little argument she had with that. Grim was being fired up as she explained.

"And he said all that!" Grim finished off on the story.

Cater and Trey looked at each other as they finished explaining what happened.

"Well it seems like you two were lucky enough to see his um less angry side of him." Cater said as he laughed nervously.

"Less angry?" Grim said if he didn't believe in what he said.

Floyd who was all silent during their conversation suddenly took interest and pitched in. "Actually when little goldfish gets really angry he gets all red like a tomato~ It's kind of funny to see." he said with his toothy grin of his.

The Riddle when she encountered then was his less angered state? She didn't really want to know how he would get if he was to be angered more then that. The feeling of worry just grew as she thought of tomorrow and started to doubt if going was a good idea.

"Can't really blame her though if she doesn't want to go. Even if she is not from our dorm our dorm leader will pretty much go on about something about the rules again. Just kind of wish he wasn't that stuck up with the rules like that and we could at least enjoy our life in the dorms." Ace sighed as he frowned troubled and such. For once Lyla could agree with Ace's opinion. It was true that she believed that rules should be made and be obeyed if they make peace but if the said rules stepped the boundaries was it really worth sticking to it? She didn't really think so. 

Trey face suddenly saddened. Lyla couldn't really tell if it was regret or sadness "Well it isn't really all his fault why he is like that." Trey said.

From his words it seemed like there was a reason why Riddle was so keen to comply to the those bizarre rules of the Queen of Hearts and make everyone obey to it. She didn't really ask further as it seemed like a personal matter.

He quickly went back to his usual face with a smile as he looked at Lyla reassuringly. "I'm pretty sure if you talk to him more you two can be good friends." Trey said to her. She felt a little better with that.

The plan was discussed to give the tart to Riddle on the day of the Unbirhtday Party which was tomorrow with Lyla. It wouldn't hurt to just try to get to know him and talk things out right? 

Continuing chatting with the first group as Cater and Trey went to get things from the cafeteria(Floyd coming along because he was out of snacks to eat) something happened for much of their luck.

As the first year group was alone the table behind them were talking about them behind their backs.

"Yeah that's the guy that ate the dorm leaders tart." one Heartslabyul student said.

And they continued off with all kinds of stuff of the first years being all this and that which made the first years irritated as they kept hearing this even if they didn't want to. All of them didn't realize the first year group could hear them from their spot.

"We can hear you guys you know..." Grim said out-loud. The upperclassmen who were talking all stopped to face the first years.

Ace just shook his head as Grim got the guys attention. "Just leave us alone will ya? I'm already having a bad day here with the collar." Ace said to the upperclassmen.

"Quite a bold thing to say for a first year rule breaker."

The student from the other group said. For a school of prestigious magic users this school had a lot of ill mannered or fair amount of delinquents that liked to stir trouble for them. 

"Hey it was his fault on eating his tart but it wasn't that much of a thing to get his magic suspended. Don't you think that's a little overboard?" Lyla said for Ace's defense as the upperclassmen mocked him. She didn't really care if Riddle had heard what she had said as it was really what she thought of the situation. The attention of the bad mannered upperclassmen shifted to the girl now.

"And you think you have something to say here?" one of the student snapped at Lyla.

Lyla was rendered silent at the other Heartslabyul students words. The unpleasantness of being unwelcome in a school full of elite magic students crept on her again and this time she couldn't do much to endure it. Emotions such as helplessness and memories in her past crept to her mind as felt unwelcome and long for home. She bit her lip and looked down to the ground as she tried to calm herself but unfortunately didn't work much. She needed air and she was done taking all of this. Not saying anything more to the group within the table she looked down to the ground and no one could see how her face was. Standing up suddenly and harshly turning away with clenched fists she went for the door. She even left Grim behind as she went for the exit of the cafeteria.

"Prefect!" Deuce, Ace Grim called out to her but she didn't seem like she was listening to him. Then she was out of sight. Just in time the upper class-men returned to witness what happened before them.

“Ah you just made little shrimp run away!” 

Even in the heavy atmosphere Floyd just pouted and acted like nothing intense had happened before.

Deuce saw her go and snapped to the other student(which his group was starting back away as they spotted the other upper class-men group) as his past bad boy mode once shown again. "Hey what is the deal with you guys and picking on her like that! You fu-" Trey grabbed Deuce's shoulder before he could do any damage on the other Heartslabyul student. But his face was equally pissed off as Deuce's as he glared at the other student.

"No more trouble than this Deuce." Trey now said to the student.

"So much for a friendly gathering." Cater said as he glared at the student as he went with a sigh as well.

Ace's eyes were fixated to the exit as he looked worried. "Trey senpai shouldn't we..."

"Yeah we should go and make sure if she is ok." Everyone except for Floyd had got up and went for the Prefect of the Ramshackle dorm. Floyd remained in his seat with his juice box and looked as the group got away. Floyd just continued to mind his own business and remained there with his juice box.

* * *

Meanwhile outside of the cafeteria all was peaceful as the dorm leader of Savannaclaw went along the trail as he yawned from his afternoon nap in the garden. It was one of those rare occasions where he went to the cafeteria himself to get food as Ruggie was busy taking care of other duties for much of his luck. His hair was still in a mess and his top buttons of his shirt was still unbuttoned. Not that he cared much about his appearance anyway. He just hoped that he wouldn't crash paths with that irritating Pomefiore guy before hand as he went for his afternoon snack.

Just before he could turn the corner a figure dashed out of it and head on bumped into him full body. Leona staggered a little back from the impact but still stood his ground.

"Hey watch where you're-" he stopped mid sentence as he saw who was in front of him. The short black hair, obsidian color eyes and the faint smell of paint was all too familiar. It was the new girl student that crashed the opening ceremony who also managed to step on his tail and runaway when he was distracted by Ruggie.

“Ah it’s you again. What a surprise.” Leona said lazily as he looked down at the girl. 

The girl looked up to him and looked like she recognized him too as he raised a brow at her. She had a 'why now' look as she looked stressed before looking at Leona in the eye.

"Sorry." she only managed to mutter as she was going to pass him. He halted her in her steps as he blocked her path.

"I didn't say you could just go yet little herbivore. I'm not finished talking about that incident back at the garden." he said to her.

Surprisingly to Leona the girl didn't seem to be scared of him right now. Instead she glared at him with a look like she was done with this. She had enough of being pushed around by the others around her and she just wanted to be alone for the moment.

“Let me go.” The girl snapped as she stood.

Leona for once was kind of taken back from the contrast of her reaction from the first time they met. If the one he first encountered looked like a helpless mouse now she looked as if she was hissing cat protecting herself. Has the hard school life at NRC had somehow hardened the girl he wondered as he looked at her. He knew that look that the girl before him displayed. It was a look mixed with helplessness and anger. It was that kind of look which reminded him of the days he spend as the second prince in the kingdom. And he hated that.

“Please.” the girl said it much less stronger than she intended it to be. Lyla looked down to the ground her flare in her eyes died down as she was near her breaking point.

He was still a little pissed off that a little herbivore stepped on his tail. But now this girl in front of him was at the verge of emotions right now and he wasn’t that low of a person to strike with a person when they were in their lowest point.

Surprisingly for her and even himself Leona moved out the way for her without more words or argument. The girl who saw this as a chance to get away just ran off just like that leaving only her sounds of running steps behind as the dorm leader of Savannaclaw watched her go away.

Leona himself didn’t know what had happened before he encountered her but judging by the way she just ran something must have happened in the cafeteria. It wasn’t much of his problem to care about. And mixing in someone’s personal life was just too tiring for the lazy lion. So he just went off his way as nothing really happened.

* * *

She didn't really know she was even really going at this point. At first as she got out of that table she just walked calmly out of the cafeteria irritated and suppressing her anger as best she could. That was it at the first. But as she went further and further away from the place her eyes were dangerously growing damp and that's when she went into a sprint. Eventually she reached a path where no student was seen and stopped to catch her breath as she looked around if she was clear.

The cost was clear.

'Great Lyla you just made yourself look stupid in front of a huge crowd.' she thought to herself as she kicked the ground a little.

Her eyes were dangerously more damp than before she met the Savannaclaw student from before. If she didn't have the control over it she would have just broke in front of the Savnnaclaw student and she was relieved that she managed to hold the tears back. This whole experience was new to her. She wasn't really the one to emotionally react to something like a taunt like that. It must be the bizarre situation taking a tole on her emotionally she thought. Why did she had to be treated like this when she was so lost in this world herself? After all she was the one to be suddenly thrown into a new world and not have any contact with her family. Lyla started to wipe her eyes and take a deep breath to calm herself down.

'Change the school for the better? Yeah like that's going to happen...' Lyla thought to herself as she still didn't understand Crowley's logic in letting her stay as a student in this school of magic yielding students. 

'You just have to get through the days quietly and wait for Crowley to find a way back home' she reminded herself in her own mind.

The girl sighed after she managed to calm her mind down. After she managed to do so she noticed after her aimless running she ended up in back of the building where not many students walked through. She just thanked the quite air around her as she breathed in and out. Planning to walk to clear her thoughts she continued the path and planned to return to the group when she was ready.

Until she heard some commotion beyond some bushes and trees near the building she halted in her steps on the stone path.

The sound felt like someone was having a fight beyond the bushes. From the sounds of it it seemed like quite the fight between some people. Her father back at earth told her a earful of avoiding physical fights between people but some corner of her heart was worried of someone being hurt or bullied as she heard the sounds making her forget about the whole thing at the cafeteria for the moment. 

As curiosity got the best of her she peeked from a hiding spot to see what was going on.

Lyla peeked from tree and saw few students gathered near the wall of the building. And from where she could see most of the students there were Savannaclaw students. The Savannaclaw students were cornering another student that was facing them. Lyla looked closer. The boy cornered to the wall had lavender hair and had a cute appearance. And judging from his armband color he was a student from Pomefiore. As she hid between the tree's she could hear the conversation between the students.

"Just hand over the herbs and we'll let you go pip squeak." one of the students said toward the lavender haired boy.

"I'm not handing these over. I've grown these in the garden and have to use them in alchemy! Get your own!" the lavender haired boy spatted back.

"I have to say you do put up a fight for a small first year. But you can't fight forever when you're out numbered." one Savannaclaw snickered making the lavender hair boy more furious.

This was bad Lyla thought. As she scanned the scene in front of her it seemed like there was already a little fight between them as she saw how tired and tattered the both sides were. Although the lavender hair boy gave a good counter toward the bullies he was indeed out numbered. She had to think fast. As she bit her lip to think of a plan an idea hit her head as she felt something in her bag. Quickly digging through the contents she finally got what she was looking for.

The ghost camera she got from Crowley.

She never thought she would be using this for this kind of purpose but Crowley did say she could report any trouble to Crowley by taking pictures.

Aiming the lens toward the the boys Lyla didn't hesitate to press the the buttons to snap a picture.

* * *

**(Author's Note: Did anyone get the little hint about some new original characters that are going to join in the story?╰(*°▽°*)╯ As one of the comments suggested I'll be posting future oc profiles on my tumblr blog from now on. I'll be posting a link to them after they make an appearance in the fic. Thanks for reading and sorry for uploading so late!)**

[ **My tumblr blog** ](https://lets-start-writing.tumblr.com/post/632772868916330496/welcome-to-main-lobby-of-the-archive-of-many)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The very things that hold you down are going to lift you up  
> -Timothy Mouse(Dumbo)-


	9. Have Courage and be Kind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally after experiencing the longest writing block I had I managed to write this new chapter. God this was a long one to write. As said before this chapter will be long to make up for the time while I was in a hiatus. Future chapters should be long as this but if you want to comment about the chapters length you're always welcome to comment your thoughts bellow. Also comments about the writing is still welcome as well!😊  
> Today's chapter was inspired when I was listening to 'New Souls' by Yael Naim(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhE7QMXRE1g). Hope you enjoy the chapter everyone!

**Snap**

"Huh?" the Savannaclaw boys turned to see Lyla as the flash of the ghost camera went off with a bright light.

Now noticing the presence of the girl all of the students attention went to the Lyla. As soon as they looked at Lyla they didn't seemed to be that effected by her presence as they still seemed smug.

"It's that girl student." another Savannaclaw student stated.

It was too late to back away from this now she thought as she breathed. She looked straight in the eyes of the Savanna claw student with a serious face.

"If you know what's best for you back away from him." she gripped the ghost camera in her hands as she looked straight to one of the Savannaclaw students that was close to the other first year. Don't look scared by them she thought as her hands went cold. If they knew she was scared it would only be taken as a weakness for them.

The Savannaclaw students just laughed at her as they weren't really fazed by the girl's threat.

"Why should we?" One student said as he grinned wickedly at her.

Lyla held the photo that came out of the old ghost camera. Gladly for her the picture clearly displayed the first year student and the Savannaclaw students faces and it was obvious what was happening through the photo. "If you don't leave him alone right now. This photo goes straight to Crowley. And to let you guys know you could get suspended or worst get expelled." she said with unyielding confidence. 

After she declaimed such thing the boys seemed to listen to her and look at each other with slight concern. But it only lived short until they wickedly grin at her as a idea seem to come to their minds in union. The students started to surround around in front of her to take the photo of their deeds. This wasn't going well as planned she thought. Rather than running away Lyla stood her ground and went into a defensive manner as she shoved the picture in her bag and hovered her hand over the magic paint brush that was attached to a chain on her uniform pants. She didn't really know if the paint brush would help her in this situation but it was better than nothing. As she was about to pull out the magic paint brush the bullies halted as they looked to behind her. Seeing the bullies reactions and feeling a new presence behind she too turned to see what they were looking at.

There behind her was another Savannaclaw boy. The guy that was now behind her had silver white hair with wolf like ears and tail. The boy had a scary look on his face as he looked to the other fellow dorm mates. His hostile energy just felt like the lion guy she had encountered while ago back at the gardens as she didn't entirely know if his guy was on her side or not. But she realized he was on her side as he said this next words to her relief.

"Don't you guys have something better to do than picking on first years?" he growled as he glared at the others. 

Seeing that he was alone Lyla feared that the other Savnnaclaw students would just tag team in fighting them since they were clearly out numbered. At first, it seemed like the Savannaclaw students seemed to have the same idea as they surrounded them but to her surprise the boys start to mutter words between each other and started to back off. The older students backed away slowly muttering in anger as they had to retreat. Slowly the older students went away of the scene of their crime as they muttered words between themselves.

Avoiding having to fight with a group of students Lyla released a relieved sigh as her eyes went back to the fellow first year student that was cornered by the other boys. Looking up and down at the lavender hair boy she was glad to see that he didn't have major injures from the conflict. Reaching back to the bag she carefully pulled out the picture that displayed the previous trouble and went to the boy. She held out the photo for him to take as the boy gave a confused look at her. She just extended her hand more and insisted on him to take the photo in her hands.

"If they ever bother you again just threaten them with this photo and say that you are going to show them to Crowley. If you just say you got them from me the headmaster would listen to you." Lyla informed the lavender haired boy as she gave the picture to his hand. Taking the photo with hesitation the Pomefiore boy looked as if he didn't understand why she just did all of this.

"Why... did you help me?" he asked in confusion.

Her answer was just straight forward and simple as she didn't think much of a reason.

"Well first years should help each other. And I couldn't just stand there and do nothing." Lyla simply said as she now looked at the Savannaclaw student with the silver white hair. As Lyla was talking to the lavender hair boy in front of her the boy with wolf ears was already going back to the path.

"Hey you really helped out there too. Thanks." Lyla quickly called out to the boy who had wolf ears and a tail before he went to far. The Savannaclaw student nodded back at her with acknowledgment before he just went on his way back.

"Whatever." And the boy with the silver white hair just went away before she could ask his name. 

Well that was a great conversation she thought as she saw him go away. He seemed distant but considering how he just helped them out of trouble the Savannaclaw boy didn't seem to be a bad person to her opinion. Maybe she could talk with him again together in another circumstance she thought as her attention went back to the Pomefiore boy in front of her.

"My name is Epel. Your Lyla right?" the boy asked and Lyla nodded as a answer.

Making sure he was really ok she once informed the boy to not hesitate to get the picture to Crowley if trouble was on his back again by the Savannaclaw students. Saying his goodbye and gratitude for her help once again Epel scampered away with the basket of plants back to the school building. Waving goodbye to the first year boy slowly came to stop as she was left alone with her thoughts.

With the students gone the sounds of the outside was the only thing that greeted her. Thankful for the time alone to calm her thoughts she found a nice spot to sit under a cool shade of a tree where no one can see her. Casting the bag she had carried around to the side she flopped to the ground and leaned into the wood and closed her eyes. She enjoyed the peaceful quite to herself until she was interrupted by other presences that came swinging above her.

"It seems like you have a lot of thoughts in your mind." a sudden familiar voice spoke from above.

"Wah!" the girl yelped.

Thinking she was well enough alone in the remote area she raised her head to see Lilia who was once again hanging upside down from a tree branch right above her. The old fae just gave a teasing upside down grin as the girl tried to calm her beating heart down. Thinking how much she was surprised by sudden appearances of people from the school she didn't think it would be strange if she had died of heart attack before she was attacked by a monster from this magical world at that point.

Managing to calm her beating heart down Lyla leaned in the tree with a sigh and glared at Lilia "Please stop doing that." she huffed.

The old fae turned his body up and finally for once stood on the ground on his feet as he got down from the branch gracefully. 

"I got worried after seeing you dart of the cafeteria in such a rush. And I ran into your friends and told me what happened." the fae said as he sat down beside her in the shade. Lyla didn't say much as she kept her silence. She leaned in her knees as she curled herself up not wanting to see face to face to the one sitting beside her.

"What would be troubling you? It would be better to talk about it than keeping it to yourself would it not?"

His look was earnest and caring as he beamed down at Lyla as she finally looked up to him from her knees. Hearing Lilia's words Lyla just fell silent and looked to the ground leaning more into the tree as she looked like she had a lot in her mind. Lilia just kept quite as Lyla closed her eyes and relaxed in the shade of the tree. The thoughts of what happened back at the cafeteria crept back to her as she tried to focus on the calm cool breeze that felt good on her face. And they remained like that for some while as fae waited for her words patiently.

"I know it's silly even considering this because I'm not even from here but... I just feel like I don't even belong here." Lyla finally blurted out and Lilia looked at the side of her face as he listened quietly.

"Headmaster Crowley keeps telling me that I can help around here but how can I be help when I don't fit in this school at all? I don't have magic and everyone seems to mock me about that fact constantly. I just... I just hate being treated like this." as she finally told someone of her heavy weight on her shoulders she felt somewhat better. "I don't know why he thinks of me so highly if me being here is just a mistake."

Listening to the young girls woes the old fae beside her gave a soft warm smile. It was felt a warm embrace of a parent for one of their children in a strange way. Lyla didn't know she needed such warmness in her heart as she fought back the urge to just crash down and cry.

“The carriages never make a mistake in taking students that are worthy to attend this school. If the carriage had taken you here you are worthy to stay and learn in this place whenever you have magic or not."

Hearing Lilia's words the young girl eyes went wide to the unexpected encouragement. She was so used to being treated unwelcome at this place and hearing that she was worthy of learning in NRC was not a thing she was expecting to hear from anyone really. She just continued to stare at the fae as he just her a smile back at her confusion. 

Lilia's eyes went back at the green scenery before them as he talked. “I saw what you did back there. Saving that first year student from Pomefiore from those delinquents. I also happen to see you defending Grim from Riddle. That was quite brave of you to do that."

"But anyone could have done that right?"

Hearing her Lilia shook his head and had a sad look display on his face as he frowned “Pure kindness is really a foreign thing around this parts. A rare thing really."

"You'll be actually surprised how much it can do. And watching what you have done since you came here I can say you have a influence."

She watched him from the side as he continued to talk. 

“Do you really think so?” unsure of what influence she can even inflict she asked the fae.

“As long as you believe in what you think is right my dear. Just don't let anyone tell you down that you are not worthy. Like everyone here that was selected to be here you are worthy, or maybe a little change that this school really needs." he answered her. 

She didn't realize how much she needed encouragement from someone until now. It was like a refreshing air after being confined so much. Her body shot out and went for an embrace in quick fashion leaving Lilia wide eyed from the sudden contact.

"Thank you Lilia." Lyla thanked him sincerely as she hugged him.

The old fae was kind of taken back from the sudden embrace but soon he patted her on the back as he broke into a warm smile.

"Your welcome. You know, Diasomnia is always open for someone like you. Or you could always visit me there for a cup a tea once and a while." he said as he patted her back gently. "But for now it would be wise find your friends. They would be worried you know?"

With that she broke the hug and saying his good byes he vanished in thin air with a sparkle of lights. The girl looked at the air of sparkling light before they faded away entirely before she stood up from the ground. Her heart felt much lighter than before.

_Kindness is really a foreign thing around this parts. A rare thing really_

She thought of Lilia's words again as she went back the path she came through. If the other's didn't welcome her as she was she would just forge her own path into fitting in herself. After all in the stories she read and watched kindness and hardwork can go a long way. And mostly make changes that no one would most expect. She believed in that for a long time. And maybe, and just maybe, she could make a change through it if she tried.

* * *

Heartslabyul students were gathered near the entrance and chatted with each other as they formed a circle. If only if the things back at the Unbirthday Party went smoother. But no, because of a specific rule -which was #562 Refrain from bringing marron tarts for the Unbirthday Party- their plans for apologizing to Riddle when flying. She was kind of baffled that they even made such a rule like that in the first place. Now she stood near the entrance of the field with Trey, Cater, the five paint monsters(Hungry, Grumpy, Sneezy, Sleepy, and Greg), and the headmaster waiting for the students to prepare for the on coming match for the role of the dorm leader. As much as she wanted to help she had to back out of this fight as she thought she wouldn't be much of help in a battle of magic but at least she could do is cheer them on with the five others that lived in her dorm.

"Just try to not get hurt out there ok guys?" she said as she looked at the boys and monster that were collared after yesterdays rule disaster.

"Aw is the prefect of the Ramshackle dorm worried about us?" Ace grinned. Lyla just crossed her arms as she looked serious about the situation as she looked beyond their shoulders to the open field of the mazes entrance.

She just went straight to the point "Well it's not a lie that I do. He is an upperclassmen and he is more skilled than anyone of us here. Our chances of winning are slim." she told the boys of her worries that were currently in her mind. Her mind on her dream about card soldiers being beheaded and Alice running from the enraged Queen of Hearts fueled her worries as well. 

"That's some pep talk." the monster said as he frowned at the prefects low faith on the boys victory against the upperclassmen.

Lyla's eye went back to the other side of the field where Riddle was standing. The boy was watching down at his pocket watch as he muttered something and Lyla felt something uneasy was going to happen. "I'm just trying to set the facts here. But regardless I'm routing for you guys to win. And even if this does goes south you guys are welcome to join the Ramshackle dorm." she offered them a reassuring smile but it didn't help much as the group just looked at her with collected unsure looks between themselves. 

She gave them a thumbs up as the two boys went out to the field. She tried to remain a smile through out the whole thing but it slowly faded into a worrying look as she approached Cater and Trey that was in the side of the battle field. "Do we really have to do this?" the girl said as she looked at her friends get into the field. While the three looked nervous Riddle on the other hand was all at ease with the battle like his win was guaranteed. He muttered about something about this being a waste of time as he looked as his pocket watch. Trey just looked to the girl beside him and looked worried as well.

"I think this would have happened eventually regardless about the tart or not..." Trey said as he looked out to the field as well. Looking at the upperclassmen she couldn't know what exactly was on his mind but she thought it would have been about how this all came to this. The surrounding crowd exchanged chatter of words and whispers about the battle against the first years and the dorm leader of Heartslabyul that were going to have. Either it was about bets about who would win or this battle between the students were pointless. Lyla mindlessly fidgeted the magic paint brush that was attached to her pants with a chain. Caught up on the situation at hand she didn't notice Cater now looked at her from the sides.

"Prefect are you ok?" he asked.

"Huh?" the girl said snapping out of trans. "Um yeah just tired that's all!" she quickly answered as she realized what he was asking. She managed a small smile to him but Cater didn't seem to be all that convinced.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you were. After yesterday that is..." he said.

"Trey just managed to hold off Deucy after he almost snapped back at that guy. Well I don't blame him. That guy was being a real jerk to you." he continued and Lyla was surprised to hear the new information. She still believed that to every situation violence wasn't the answer but thinking of the intentions it was sweet of Deuce to do so. Her mind went back to the currently place she was in. Thanking him and the others for yesterday came into her mind.

"Thanks for yesterday. Your a great friend Cater." she said with a twitch of a small smile on her lips.

Turning to see his face she saw the boy's eyes go wide with the what she had just said. "You consider me your friend?" the boy asked.

"Well you guys were nice and kind to me until now. Or is being a friend to me not sound good to you?" she asked teasingly for once to the peppy boy in front of her. With that the orange hair boy just laughed as he didn't expect to hear such a thing from the girl. 

"No! That's not that at all cute little prefect! It's just that I never heard someone tell me that before." he said with a awkward smile on his part as he rubbed his neck.

Talking to someone like this was refreshing to her in a good way. A giddy feeling of having a new friend was a new to her after all. She wasn't someone to tell someone first that someone was her friend but at least here in this school it seemed natural for her as they were someone people that understood her situation. It was a nice feeling.

"Well... if it wasn't for this battle I was wanting to talk about that gossip about the new teachers that are coming~" Cater said with a disappointed look. Now that he mentioned it Lyla now remembered that he was talking about something about new teachers when they were in the cafeteria yesterday. Before she could ask more about it the monster beside her interrupted instead.

"Now that you mention it you did tell that about that in lunch. Ya managed to find out something?" Grim asked as he stood next to the paint monsters that were trying to make a pyramid to cheer off the first years(which failed as they tumbled to the ground with Grumpy grumbling in the bottom of the pile).

"I did try to butter out it from the headmaster but he still kept his mouth shut about it! But how he seems to be secretive about it seems like their pretty famous to my guess at least. But it is strange how they were recruited all so suddenly in middle of the school year." Cater said in a hushed voice. Lyla was interested herself with the new teachers that were suddenly joining in the NRC staff but she was interrupted by Trey as she was listening to Cater.

"It looks like their about to start." Trey spoke out to the group. True to his word turning their heads they could see the headmaster now stood in the middle of the side lines of field holding up a small silver hand mirror in hand. Her attention went back to the field as both sides prepared for the battle for the role of the dorm leader. As the headmaster did his telling of the rules of the battle and letting Riddle remove the collars off the first years Lyla prayed for Ace and Deuce to win as she watched silently.

Finally headmaster threw the small silver object in the air and in matter of seconds it hit the ground

It was already over when she blinked. The two boys were already collared in mere seconds the battle had started. She couldn't really believed it how he managed to seal their magic away before the other boys could even conjure a spell against Riddle.

"Oh dear..." Cater muttered under his breath and Trey tensed up as well. Lyla had a feeling this was not going to go so well.

The boys seemed to be in a state of shock as well. Riddle on the other hand was just pleased with the quick outcome as he could get back to his schedule right on time. 

"Don't you guys think his implement of the rules are a bit unfair?" Ace shouted out to the other Heartslabyul students. But no one really stepped out as they remained silent in the crowd.

No one really stepped up to the dormer leader because of the fear and Lyla realized that.

"Unfair? Rules are made to be followed and obeyed to! Those who don't follow the rules have to be punished and judged. That's the way it always should be!" Riddle said while putting a hand to his chest. "Your wrong!" the girl shouted out first making the all of the other students including Crowley look at her with surprise with her sudden outburst of a comment. Riddle just gave her a cold glare of a angry look. 

"No one will follow the rules that are lenient! What sort of lessons were you given that you can't even understand something so simple as that?" Riddle said with a mocking smile. The girl stunned with his words directed toward her stopped to look at him with hurt eyes.

Riddled continued with his mocking smile. "You were probably were born from parents who can't even use magic. I'm sure that you didn't even receive any good education before you stepped in this school. How pathetic truly!"

Whatever what the other students said about her she was able to put a blank face. But now was her breaking point where it can't be stopped.

It hurt. His words hurt her to the core.

Her eyes widen as they shook with the words that were thrown to her. Mouth opened to say something but stuck as words were stuck on her throat as her emotions choked her up.

"What do you know about me to say things like that..." she angrily muttered and looked at straight at Riddle with a mad glare of her own. She had enough of this. With her angry declare Riddle was taken back with her sudden change in her mood and expression. She never really shown her angry side to anyone and it was rare. But Riddle's words just had triggered her personally.

"My father did everything he can to-" she started to choke up on her pent up emotions once again.

Her mind went flooding about her father. Her negative thoughts of never finding a way back home came back to her. She promised herself she would never cry in front of anyone. Even when she landed in this unknown world of magic and wonder, scared and not knowing if she can ever go back and see her father again, she promised herself to be brave and strong get through all of this. And yet...

The tears started to fall and didn't stop.

When the warm tears flowed down her cheek was when she realized she was crying. Trey said something behind her but his words just came to the girl as a background noise as she tried to calm down.

_Stop crying in front of everyone you're not a kid anymore_

She told herself in her mind over and over again. Embarrassed and surprised at her surge of insecurity in her emotions coming to her she was overwhelmed. She missed her family more than anything at the moment. 

What happened next was so fast she didn't realize at first what had happened before her eyes.

There Riddle was holding his jaw as Ace now stood before him with a angered look himself. It took her a bit to realize Ace had just punched Riddle in the jaw as Grim pointed it out with a smug grin himself. Lyla herself was too shocked to form any sort of words of what happened. She snapped from the shock with someone putting a hand on their shoulder. It was Trey as he looked at her worried. She quickly used her hands to wipe the remaining tears on her face as her face burned with redness.

Ace started to shout at the dorm leader. Then things escalated quickly in a bad way. Some students started throw eggs at the dorm leader as their pent up anger of the oppression they felt started to show at that one moment. Riddle's face started to turn into the very colors of the roses of the maze as his unhinged anger started to show out.

And finally he snapped.

With a dark burst of energy like mist surrounding the whole field Lyla opened her eyes to see a Riddle in a whole other form in front of her.

Wearing clothes fit for a Queen of Hearts Riddle wore a crimson red dress that was decorated with hearts staying true to the wonderland theme. But mostly unsettling thing was the huge monster that resembled the tyrant queen which was behind him. The ink blot monster matched Riddle's movements as he looked at the others with an angered look on his face as he started to collar them one by one.

But it seemed like he wasn't alone on the rampage of attacks that were targeted toward the students. Multiple rustles came from the bushes that surrounded the dormitory.

The same monsters from the mines have come out of the greenery as they approached the opening. It was a concerning number even if there were many students present at the dormitory of Heartslabyul. The the same kind like the five paint monsters that were on Lyla's side were coming out of the bushes and there were new monsters that were shaped like a broom holding buckets of something in them([which looked like this if you are wondering](https://epicmickey.fandom.com/wiki/Sweepers)). Beside her Grumpy, Sleepy(who woke by the commotion that was around), Hungry, Sneezy, and Greg started to gurgle angrily at the other monsters as they neared.

"What's happening? Didn't you tell us that you put up a magic shield around the school!?!" Grim said as he looked at the monsters coming out of the bushes from the beyond wherever they came from. Crowley just seemed surprised and confused about the situation as much as the students as he looked tense at the number of monsters that were appearing around the maze surrounding the students.

"This never happened before at all with the shields before! Unless... mister Roseheart's overblot had triggered the magic shield to weaken?" Crowley said muttering under his breath.

The sheer amount of monsters was indeed concerning. The monsters started running toward the student crowds passing Riddle as he as well started with his attacks as he managed to pull out a rose bush from the garden using it was a weapon as he swung it around. Breaking into sudden chaos of battle the body of students reacted into two ways either running away or fighting back as they used magic to fend off the monsters that invaded the dorm. 

"Prefect you can deal with them right? The paint brush?" Deuce mentioned as he started to back away from the monsters as they started to come nearer and nearer with each step.

Hearing the boy mentioning the paint brush Lyla pulled out the thing by the wooden handle and aimed for one of the monsters that looked like a broom stick that had a bucket of green liquid beside it. On command the paint brush did it's work and splashed a stream of blue paint aimed at the monsters that were nearest to her. A few monsters were hit with the attack spinning after they were fully turned blue with the paint as they turned good. But the her triumph didn't live to long for the girl that yielded the magic paint brush.

The stream of paint weakened and paint no longer came out of it's tip. Noticing this the monsters took advantage and started to gain on the group. 

"Are you kidding me? Of all of the times it could run out of paint!" the trio shouted in reunion as they saw what has become of their only effective weapon against this new paint monsters.

Realizing her lack of defense on her part the girl just nervously laughed before back away with the others. The headmaster was shouting orders to the students but in mins of the chaos of fleeing from the Riddle as he collared other classmates or defending against the paint monsters they all didn't seem to listen. Lyla tried her best to defend herself against the monsters herself as she was near Trey and Cater beside the headmaster.

"If mister Rosehearts continued with his overblot rampage he won't last longer!"

The group soon got to know about the effects of long overblots on a person would result in. Lyla gripped the magic paint brush in her hands as she started to feel tense. Although the dorm leader of Heartslabyul had been mean and demanding toward her from the beginning she didn't want him to go out like this. And it seemed like the trio had the same idea with her as well as they agreed to help the dorm leader get out of the overblot state he was in. With the help of two other upperclassmen, Cater and Trey, as well the students started to fend off against Riddle as they tried to reason with him. But their efforts were challenged with the sheer amount of other paint monsters that were coming their way. 

"Where do these little guys keep coming from!" Grim complained as he spit fire after fire toward the boom shaped paint monsters that were trying to get near them. With the others fending off the monsters Lyla was the only one that noticed a rustle from behind them. On top of the hedge behind them was a broom shaped monster ready to dump a load of green liquid above them from the hedge. Being preoccupied with fighting other monsters in front of him Trey didn't realize the broom shaped monster above him in the hedges of the maze. Lyla dived into action before thinking. Tackling the upperclassmen to the ground the two barely bodged the splash of green liquid that was poured from above them by a monster.

Trey and Lyla missed the attack by a slim inch before they landed to the hard grass ground. The green liquid hit the ground with a splash forming a puddle on the ground. Unfortunately the formed puddle slightly touched the girls palm of her hand that touched the ground. She quickly pulled her hand away as she felt a hissing pain on her hand where the green liquid had touched her. She looked down at her hand to see a bad red burn on her hand.

"Trey are you ok?" her concern for the boy first came to her mind rather than her injuries as she covered it with her other hand. The boy groaned as he managed to get off the ground. "Yeah I'm ok- Lyla your hand!" his eyes widened with concern as Lyla covered her hand as the hissing pain continued.

She tried to let him know she was ok. "I'm ok!"

They had to get up soon before they exchanged more words as more monsters started to jump down from the hedge. The girl had no way but to split up with her group if she wanted to be safe. The girl had ran to the nearest table that was still set up for the Unbirthday Party that the students didn't put away. Sliding under the table she took cover from the attacks as she hid underneath. As she panted for breath she could hear the screaming of the students and blasts of magic mixed with Riddles enraged screams. 

Taking cover from the chaos to avoid a blow she peeked over the white cloth to see students run in all directions to avoid the green liquid that was being poured or avoiding monsters that were tackling them. Some students were using magic in order to protect themselves but magic didn't do much damage as they hoped for and there was far too many monsters to deal with. And on top of that was Riddle swing the rose bush he had managed to pull from the ground. She could hear his enraged screams as she heard her friends trying to take him in her sight of vision. But the group of her friends were having difficulty in even landing shots because of the sheer numbers of monsters that were bothering them. Even reaching Riddle was proven to be a task that had proven to be a task itself entirely. The monsters were either tackling them left or right or trying pour that strange green glowing liquid on the poor students as they tried to help Riddle with his overblot. If this kept going on like this it they wouldn't be able to save Riddle in time. Lyla gritted her teeth as she tried to think of a plan.

Looking down at her hand the magic paint brushes tip became blue once again. She then realized that the paint brush can charge up paint after using a certain amount. Ok she now knew she could only fight off a few at a time before it ran out of the blue paint. That was at least a good thing to know.

She started to realize how the monsters stopped in their tracks and looked around for something or rather someone as they stopped chasing other students as they checked their faces. She had the only weapon that can effectively pacify them completely. Taking on thought about the memory about the Dwarf Mines back at their day when she met the first years she started to recall something. This strange paint monsters were mostly after her when they first encountered them while the others tried to bother the others while they tried their best to bother others.

She realized the monsters were after her.

She had to do something but what? She wracked her brain for any good ideas to settle the chaotic situation before her eyes. She could only deal with a few of them before her magic paint brush ran out of paint again but if she just let the monsters be someone could get hurt just like her hand did.

She eyes darted around the surroundings. If she didn't have power to defeat every single one of the monsters she had to use the surroundings to her advantage.

Then at that moment her eyes landed to the entrance of the rose maze of the dorm and that's when a idea hit her.

_She had to lure them away from the crowd._

She quickly scrambled out of under the table and stood in the clear. Running through the chaos of running boys and blows of magic attacks she went into the clear.

"Hey it's me that you want right?" she shouted to catch all of the monsters attention.

Catching the attention of all the monsters the girl made a beeline for the entrance of the maze in top speed. Not looking back she lead the monsters in the maze as they made attempt to capture the girl. And luckily the monsters followed to her plan as a large number of them followed her into the complex maze of Heartslabyul dormitory. 

Using his unique magic to distract Riddle's attacks Cater saw the monsters going toward the maze as Lyla got cross the field. "She's luring them away from the other students." he realized.

"But why are they following her?"

The headmaster just gritted his teeth as he continued to make sure the other students were safe. Noticing the headmasters tense expression Trey looked at him seriously as he frowned "You do know something about this headmaster?" he asked. 

Headmaster Crowley figured he couldn't hold off on the important information from the girl any longer as he gave a sigh for what was about to come upon him in the future. Part of him regretted that he kept this secret of the girl longer.

"I will explain this all later. For now saving mister Rosehearts from his overblot state and protect the students at all cost!" he shouted as he guided more of the students to safety. The others were just confused about his remark but for now they could only try to make Riddle snap out of his state of overblot before they could question him further if they wanted to.

Once again the group could hear the enraged shouts from Riddle before them. Ace just put a hand to his head as he felt a headache coming with the confusion of what was happening. "I don't know what the heck is happening but it's best to follow his words right?" everyone agreed to Ace's words as they prepared for the battle.

* * *

Inside the actually rose maze was much more complex than Lyla imagined. With curved turns and twisted corners she wasn't even sure she it was path she already went through. With her heart pounding against her chest she could hear monsters at the other end which fueled her anxiety. Running along the path trying as much in her effort in not trying to meet many monsters she panted for short breathes and ran to the next corner. The frequent burn from her hand reminded her to be careful of the broom shaped monsters as she ran toward every corner. Occasionally she would come across the paint monsters in her path which were confused with the path themselves. Using the surprise sudden encounter to her advantage she would whip the paint brush splatting blue paint to the monsters as they turned to her side before it ran out of paint again. She couldn't stay in one place too long though as with fighting the paint monsters she could hear reinforcements coming her way.

She stopped in her steps as she heard footsteps of something big and grumbling which was a entirely new sound. Fearing that it was a new monster she didn't encounter before she turned her direction entirely in the opposite way of the sound she ran as quickly as she could feel her heart pounding from her ears. 

It wasn't long before she ended up in such a unlucky place on her behalf.

She muttered a curse as she ran into a dead end. Pretty much trapped between whatever was beyond the hedge she hastily looked for any hiding spot desperately.

Then out of nowhere a hand dragged her in a large plant bush with out any word. Lyla was rendered in a silent shock from the sudden presences that forcefully pulled her in. Soon a hand covered her mouth to prevent any sound to be made. And before she could resist a voice hushed her from behind as the two both hide in the shadow of the leaves. Soon Lyla could hear heavy foot steps and some angry voices coming from outside the hedge that they were hiding.

"What do you mean you lost that little girl?" one voice said angrily to someone else outside the hedge. And strangely the voice sounded so familiar to the girl as she listened in.

The little girl? The only girl in this entire campus was her so she guess the voices were talking about her. Daring not to move an inch she kept listening in their conversation as she held her breath and try to not make a sound.

"This maze is mindbogglingly complex Big Bad Pete. This maze is more bigger than we thought!" another voice from over the hedge responded with a grunt and huff. In the bushes she could hear another angry huff followed with a stomp of something heavy. The voices continued "This is our only chance for us to nab that girl and give her to the Blot! Thanks to that little redhead kid going all berserk this might be the only time we can enter this school! Just find that Lyla kid so we can get her heart back to the boss back at Wasteland." the voice strained to remain patient as if he was trying to contain his annoyance.

"After that fail back at that dwarf mines or what you call it the boss has been fuming! I can't imagine what he would do if we... failed again." the voice shuddered.

Her mind spun in confusion with the new sudden information that she just heard. Her heart? Wasteland? What were these voices talking about? As she had trouble trying to get the information in her spun of thought were interrupted with a new voice.

"Um Big Bad Pete? We have a problem." a nervous voice said.

"What is it?" the voice of Big Bad Pete asked as is he sounded annoyed with the interrupted cut in.

"The shield are started to close back! And it seems like that headmaster is coming though this maze to find that girly." the voice said with a nervous tone.

"WHAT?" Big Bad Pete remarked which the new voice replied with "It seemed like those students well... figured how to turn that redhead kid back to normal..." he said with a nervous laugh which again followed with Big Bad Pete's groan of internal scream of annoyance and pain. Then it went about with Big Bad Pete shouting orders about retreating. Now Lyla could hear foot steps walking away with muttering voices that was followed with annoyed grunts. With the voices subsiding the person behind her finally let loose of his hand on her mouth.

"That was a close one~" the person behind her covering her mouth finally spoken. Releasing his hand from her mouth Lyla panted for breath as quietly as possible as she turned behind her to see who saved from who ever that was outside the hedge. She was greeted with a big catlike grin and a person with purple catlike ears that was all to familiar with. 

"Che'nya?" she spoke out of surprise at seeing the cat like student again in the maze. 

"Hello again little Alice~ I just happened to be in the neighborhood before that whole 'catastrophe' had happened fufufuf~" he greeted her with his piercing friendly grin.

"It had looked like those rookies had things over with the overblot situation. And bird guy was looking for you around after he got the students out of the entrance." he explained. Lyla was rather relieved to hear the news.

"Thanks for saving me back there." she thanked him.

Che'nya just continued to grin at her as he booped her nose in a playful manner "Don't mention it little Alice~ Lets just get you back to the entrance shall we?". While he said that Lyla felt her body feel like floating in thin air before she vanished with the RSA student. Just like the Cheshire Cat in the films Che'nya vanished in thin air only leaving his smile as he vanished with Lyla.

* * *

By the time that Riddle had groggily woken up from the ground he opened up his eyes to see his childhood friend Trey and Che'nya, his friend Cater and the Headmaster looking down at him as he blinked to get his vision cleared. Riddle slowly got up as he was called by Trey and got into a hug. Riddle looked around to see that most of the maze and field was in a mess with a few rose bushes pulled out of the ground revealing their roots. The venue where the Unbirhtday Party was held was now wasn't the prefect picture of what it had been as it was a mess of rubble. In the line of his sight he could see some students helping out other students that were hurt or little blue monsters that looked like the five blue strange monsters that the Ramshackle prefect had just aimlessly walking in the field(which the students reacted to slightly be weary of them as they neared).

"What... what happened?" he asked out of confusion and lack of memory of what had happened.

Trey and the Headmaster started to explain what had happened. From the outburst of negative emotions driving him into overblot, the monsters coming out to cause chaos as he attacked the students with his unique magic, and how Lyla managed to lure the monsters in order to make the others reach to him they had told him everything in detail. Riddle could only recall somethings in his hurting head. His memories flooding back to his childhood and his mother. Seeing what he had just horribly done and seeing his faults in his ways his emotions started to flood in as he caved in. He begged forgiveness from the others as he cried.

"Hey Riddle it's fine now. Everyone is fine." Trey tried to reassure him. Che'nya on the other had just looked at the rather heart warming outcome with a grin of his own. The Headmaster was relieved with the situation put out he started to frown as he realize something was off as he saw the RSA student being here at the first place.

"Wait Mister Che'nya how did you manage to get through the magic shields in the first place?" Crowley said as he crossed his arms and frowned at the RSA student as he demanded for answers.

Now noticing that the headmaster addressing him just snickered and started to slowly vanish in thin air starting from his lower body.

"Well that's a way that I only know. Tata everyone! It was nice meeting you guys again!" was the last thing Che'nya said before he turned invisible leaving his grin behind as he vanished. While the headmaster was baffled by the sudden disappearance of the RSA student Riddle had looked at Ace and Deuce as he was about to give an apology as well. But before he had the chance to speak Ace pointed to the back of him as he looked at his prefect straight in the eyes. He didn't seem like he entirely forgiven him for what he had done.

"The one you should really apologize is over there you know?" Ace pointed toward the bench that was stationed near the maze. Following his way that he pointed Riddle could see Lyla sitting on the stone marble bench as she was being tended to her wound on her hand by a little boy with blue flame hair. She looked pretty tired from running through the massive maze and beat down from the conflict. With a conflicted look Riddle had frown as he remembered what he had said toward the girl through out there whole meeting. 

"That should do it for the wound on your hand miss!" the little boy with flaming blue hair exclaimed as he looked down at his handy work.

He was right. There was no slightly burning pain on her palm anymore from that strange green liquid. Hearing that there was a massive fight and there were some injured this little boy named Othro came rushing into the Heartslabyul dorm to help. She wondered why a little boy would be in the campus grounds but she was too worn out to ask any questions as she was tended to her wounds.

"Thanks Othro." she thanked the little boy as she gazed down at her now bandaged hand. 

As she said good bye to the blue flamed hair little boy she turned her head to see Riddle coming closer to her being supported by Trey. As he approached Riddle couldn't really read her expression as she remained there on the bench. When he was finally in front of her he gave his sincerest apology that he could give as he slightly bowed at her.

"I want to apologize for what I said earlier. I was not my place to say such harsh things at you. I'm so sorry." he said with an almost shaking voice in the process. He looked up to see her reaction hoping that he at least conveyed his heart to sincerity of his words. 

"I can't really forgive you for what you said back there." the girl returned with a straight face.

Riddle fist got tighter as he regretted the things he had said that he couldn't take back. He couldn't blame her for not forgiving him as he said harsh words toward her. But he was surprised to hear her next words after that.

"But I'm willing to give you a second chance so don't blow it." She flashed a small smile at Riddle "I'm glad you are ok."

Not knowing how to react to her words Riddle just nodded as he was guided back to the dormitory to go to the infirmary of the campus. Trey gave Lyla a small nod toward her out of gratitude and her forgiveness toward Riddle. She replied to that with a nod of her own as she watched the group return to the dorm to go back to the mirror. Her smile slowly faded as she turned her face to now see that the Headmaster walk toward her followed with Grim by his side. 

"You got a lot of explaining to do Headmaster."

* * *

Grim and Lyla went back to the Ramshackle dorm all tired and beaten by the crazy day they just had. Following was the headmaster of NRC and the five spatters(Hungry, Grumpy, Sneezy, Sleepy, and Greg) and the additional numbers of new monsters that joined her side right behind them. Sensing the heavy atmosphere the five spatters(and other handful of new monsters) went away to their room quickly as they babbled away leaving Grim, headmaster and the girl in the living room area.

Dismissing the heavy atmosphere surrounding the two people behind him the little monster just flopped on the couch with no care in the world. "Finally home sweet home!" Grim was the first on to say something as he jumped on the couch as he sighed in relief.

Unlike the relieved monster Lyla was starting to stress more as she turned to the headmaster to confront of what he had knew about the situation she was in.

"Sir can you now explain what is happening here now?" she demanded which made Crowley sigh. Headmaster Crowley pulled out the letter of Sorcerer Yen Sid that he saved in his coat pocket.

"This is a letter that was sent to me a day before the opening ceremony. And before you ask the letter is genuine. There is no way that it is a fake. And I am afraid anymore explanations beyond the letter I can give to you." he said while holding the opened letter in his hand. Taking the letter with careful hands Lyla looked it under the light of the dusk coming though the window.

Dear headmaster of Night Raven College

First I would like to apologize for the short notice of this letter that is going to reach out to you on the day of the opening ceremony of Night Raven College. And if the spell had worked right a young girl named Lyla Mousley would have appeared in one of your carriages to attend the school. I am sure that the young girl is wondering why or how she had ended up in such a obscure situation all of a sudden but I regret that the whole situation is not a matter I can write down on just a single sheet of paper. All that I can say is that she will be a essential member to defend the evil beings that are about to come upon our world. I would have taken her as my apprentice but I am in no place at the time to help her learn. I will entrust her to you and the staff of the school to let her learn and grow for the time being. I have already sent help on her way to explain this situation in detail and aid her on her quest. Until then I hope that she will be fine within your care.

From sorcerer Yen Sid

So her suspicions were right on she was sent to this school for a reason. Lyla bit her lip as she read the entire letter. She looked at the headmaster for anymore answers desperately.

"Why haven't you shown me this in the first place?" she demanded as she felt a slight anger she wasn't told about this information at the first place. Crowley grip on his key shaped cane got stronger as he felt her anger toward himself. He couldn't blame her.

"You were confused and worried. I thought I was putting you through mercy as you are new to this world. How wrong I was." he let out a sigh of a laugh toward himself as he rubbed his temple.

"I was surprised myself that I realized that you didn't have magic when I met you that day. It was one of the reasons I doubted that you won't fit in but I was wrong." he said.

His words just confused her more as she felt a mix of anger and confusion.

"I'm just a normal girl with no magic! What can I do to save a whole world that's fulled with other people that are talented in magic when I'm the hopeless one here?" she told the headmaster in fit of confusion. The headmaster only shook his head and looked at the girl with serious look.

"Mister Rosehearts wouldn't have made it if you didn't did what you had back at the maze miss Mousley. I know that asking you of this important role is rather selfish thing to ask for a outsider..." the headmaster said with a heavy tone. Knowing the headmaster through out her days of the NRC Lyla started to realize he was indeed feeling bad for her with his serious tone of voice and face. But it didn't make her feel better of the situation she was in. The headmaster put a hand on the girl shoulder as he looked down at her.

"Today's result is just proof that you are worth of such a role. And it's not like you are the only chosen one to help us. You have my very support and allies that can help you on the task."

The girl stood there with no more words forming on her mouth. She just stood there hesitate to even consider the option of helping to defend such a massive world against some evil being that some letter declared. 

"For me. For them. And for you. I asked one thing Miss Mousley. Can you please help us?" he asked the girl in front of him.

She couldn't deny the part of her ached for the adventure she all so craved beneath her worries. The girl sighed and looked down at her bandaged hand. She was going to regret this crazy decision. Or would she really?

Lyla finally decided on what to do as she looked back at the headmaster. "I'll help with this under one condition headmaster." as she said the Headmasters head turned to stare right at her in the eyes.

"After whatever comes after this you will send me back to home back to my family. Please sir..." his student begged. With her condition Crowley had nodded in agreement.

"I will promise that on my heart little bird." the headmaster tip his hat with a sincere look on his face. Unlike his empty promises and efforts in trying to find a way to send the girl back home the headmaster seemed to take her condition in seriously for once. In truth the headmaster wasn't all that eased with someone giving this young girl in front of him such a weighted role for whatever that was going to come to this world. She was strong and brave nonetheless but she was still young and worried every second if they could see her family ever again back at her world. The headmaster gave a little smile toward her before bidding her a goodnight and rest.

"Human you ok there?" Grim now spoke out from the spot on the couch. Lyla turned her head as she was realized the monster had remained there through the whole conversation she had with the headmaster.

"Yeah. I'm fine kind of..." she dragged as she joined him on the couch. She too dead tired to talk anymore than that. Grim was as well as he just silently went for the prefects lap. With a silent agreement between the two they remained there on the couch. It was strangely comforting to have Grim in her arms at that moment. It only took minutes before the two just passed out on the couch just like that. Even in her unconscious sleeping state Lyla could feel her worried thoughts starting to form as she slept through the whole night.

There was the promise of help arriving recalling what was written in the letter from Yen Sid. It was true that she wasn't entirely alone in the task of this huge role. But would that be enough?

* * *

"So that's pretty much what the Headmaster told me last night."

Lyla last added after she told Ace and Deuce of what Crowley had told her last night. She had told them every little detail she could recall. From the letter from the sorcerer and being sent to this school on purpose and all the talk of her being a essential member in helping Twisted Wonderland from going into ruin. As she much expected it to happen the boys seem to be 

"That's just crazy... evil beings attacking? And you being in the middle of all this? It doesn't seem real at all." Deuce rubbed his forehead as he tried to comprehend what his friend told him through out the whole walk toward the cafeteria. The girl only sighed as she related what he had said.

"As much as I want to believe it's not real as you I guess this is the reality I have to face with. It seems like I'm not going home sooner that anything." she muttered.

Ace, Deuce, and Grim looked at the each other after they heard the Ramshackle dorm prefects words as they felt bad for her. Walking toward the cafeteria to eat lunch the group tried to lift up the mood at least with chatter. But it seems like nothing could really take the topic at hand off of the Ramshackle dorm prefects mind.

"So what are you going to do now Prefect?" Deuce asked with all sincerity for her well being.

"There isn't much I can do but wait on the 'help' that the letter told me. It looks like they can explain more to me than the headmaster can at the moment." she said.

"If you need any help on this you can always ask me for help if you need it." Deuce offered to her.

"Well don't know what I can do to help but count me in as well. Seems to be fun in joining in something that isn't related to boring history lessons." Ace chimed in as well.

"Now you can put aside your worries that you have a strong ally beside you!" he as well remarked.

"Oh hooray I feel so safe now." she dryly said with an deadpan look on her face as walked along the hallway but to truth she was glad for the support. Ace just snickered with her reaction. As they walked toward the stone path of the hallways Lyla suddenly had an idea come to her to get back at Ace with all his teasing. She had a smirk on her face as she looked at the boy that had a painted heart on his face on the side that she was walking.

"Hey Ace. For a guy that teased me for not having magic at the first time you were really something back there yesterday." "Huh?" Ace's ears started to get red at the mention of it.

Grim and Deuce gladly joined in. "Now that you mentioned it he really went in for Riddle after he offended you like that." Deuce said as he recalled what happened yesterday. Knowing Ace he never really thought he would take such immediate reaction like punching the dorm leader with a upper cut after he had mocked Lyla like that. It was rather surprising. "I'm surprised he has a such a caring side to himself to do that." Grim said. "He was asking for it!" Ace defended himself on his behalf but his face just got redder by the minute. 

"Aw you do care about me don't you~ I'm touched!" the girl said with a playful tone in her voice for once as she put a hand on her chest. By the time the group was snickering with his red reaction Ace's face turned red with embarrassment as he tried to cover his face with a internal scream in his head. It only fueled more snickers from his friends to his horror.

"Oi! If you keep bullying me like that I'll just go the the cafeteria myself then!" he ran toward the cafeteria while Deuce ran after him yelling 'Hey wait for us!'

Just as she was about to run after the two boys Lyla had to halt in her steps before she could follow them to the cafeteria. Behind her and the monster on her shoulders she heard a call of her name. Turning her head to see who it was she was greeted with the sight of multiple Heartslabyul students coming toward her way. Some that she didn't really know and some were classmates from her class room 1-A. "Uh oh. What do these guys want now?" the monster whispered under his breath on Lyla's shoulder.

"Can I help you guys?" she warily asked as she looked up at the group that was approaching her. The group of Heartslabyul students stood their as she and the monster waited for their answer.

They didn't seem to be looking for trouble as they were trying to find the words they were looking for. Then all of a sudden "We are so sorry we misjudged you!" all of them announced as they bowed in front of her and the monster.

With the sudden apology the girl and monster looked at each other rather confused at what they were talking about all of a sudden. One of the students from her class from her class stepped in to explain. "We weren't really accepting of you. And after yesterday we felt guilty of that." By judging how guilty and sorry they looked Lyla knew they were sincere.

"Can we at least have a chance to start over? As same classmates?" the student extended his arm toward her which she accepted with a hand shake.

The Heartslabyul students seemed to be in a better mood as Lyla accepted their sudden apology toward her and Grim. They bid them a farewell and see you in classes as they went back from where they had came from. Lyla could only give a awkward wave back at them before they disappeared behind the pillars. 

With the commotion over Lyla now noticed the students that were passing by looking toward her way as she and Grim passed by. But it wasn't the usual whispers of disapproval that was coming toward her this time. Whispers of disapproval and snickers had turned into rumors(or truth depending it was right) about what happened yesterday or words that they have seen the girl in a new light because how they helped out with the overblot situation at Heartslabyul.

"Their talking about us!" the monster excitingly exclaimed from her shoulder as she walked. But unlike the overly excited monster on her shoulders Lyla wasn't really welcoming of the attention.

"I guess my plans of just living rest of the campus life quietly is pretty much ruined at this point."

"There's no use in backing out of this human! Just live a little and be proud of your new status! We're popular!" Grim remarked with a prideful smirk as he puffed out his chest of their new popularity. Lyla couldn't help but twitch a smile as she saw the silly antics of the monster in her arms as she just shook her head.

It was true that she was scared about the uncertain future in front of her but at least thing were starting to get more better for her school days in NRC.

* * *

As the chaos of the overblot case settled down at NRC and the girl had set her mind to help the people of Twisted Wonderland and the sorcerer named Yen Sid there was another pair of people that was well concerned for their future as well of the safety of their land. Beyond the seas of Twisted Wonderland there was a distant land of lost worlds that inhabited of mystical creatures and beings. There crossing the stretched ground of thick forestry and mountains a train was on it's course to the harbor. The train took steady on it's course heading toward it's station near the harbor was filled with passengers that mostly were asleep or retired to their respective cabins to rest. But one group in particular wasn't in for a peaceful slumber into the night. In the furthest cart from the front a whole cart was reserved for a pair. The cabin itself was fitted with fine interior and decorations but it didn't seem all that luxury so it was not that uncomfortable using the space. The cabin smelled of sweet apple cinnamon tea with a hint of pastries on the side as both passengers didn't seem to have sleep on their minds at the moment as they sat across each other from their respective beds.

One on the left side was tending to a raven with shiny healthy feathers that sat on their shoulders as they were sitting on the edge on the bed. Rubbing the place bellow their beak the bird cooed as it closed it's eyes with pleasure. The one tending the bird was no means human as they had a pair of butterfly like wings on their back. With a frame of black the patterns of their wings were a vibrant color of blue and white. Under the moon light shining through the window their wings gave off a slight glow as it was draped like a cloak cape behind them. Their appearance was rather peculiar as they possessed a pretty feminine face with a hint of masculine features with their very long jet black hair. They continued to tend to the bird with a warm smile and beaming eyes as it cooed for more attention to be petted.

Across the other side of the cabin was a young human man with tan skin and middle length black hair that was slightly a mess as he didn't seem to care about using products. His appearance was rather cold and sharp with his icy blue eyes fixated on his small note book in his hands as he looked perfectly immersed whatever that was written in it. Leaning into the headboard of the bed the man had put their hand under his chin as he looked completely focused.

The peace in the quite was rather soothing as they both welcomed in the sounds of rumbling clicks of the train as it followed it's course.

But as they enjoyed the peace a ring tone of a phone broke both of their attention from the peaceful quite. The ringing was coming from the person with the butterfly wings pocket. Pulling out the phone they could see the callers name that was displayed.

'Madhatter(Bossman)' it said.

The one with the butterfly wings quickly took the call as they looked back at the window. The man just sat there quite in the bed and looked as they took the call. The call went for a few minutes with the person with the wings talking to the other caller. He couldn't tell much of what the other caller was saying with the distance between them but seeing how his companion's soft smiling face slowly turned into a serious look he guessed it wasn't much of good news on the other end.

"Yeah ok boss understood." the person with the wings said nodding as well. "Yeah I know- ok we will be careful. See you soon boss." with that they ended the call.

"Apparently something happened." the person with the wings said while lowering down their phone to their pocket. The man perked head toward them, his hand which held the notebook lowered at they looked toward the one with the wings.

The person with wings held both of their hands up and made a motion of him to relax back down. "Don't worry there Clive that Lyla kid handled it pretty well from what I heard. There was a overblot student and a fight but she's all fine." they said with a reassuring tone that made him lean back on the wall while he was on his small bed of the trains cabin.

"What else did the professor say?" the man who was named Clive asked out to the one with wings as he rubbed the place of his nose bridge between his eyes. He was clearly stressed and tired(well they were tired too as they worked sleeplessly for a few days because of this case) from the looks of it and the one with the wings couldn't leave him like that.

Pulling a overly dramatic sigh they could muster and a troubled look on their face they looked at their friend as he waited for their answer with a twitch of amusement. "He said that he sent all of our stuff from the attic room with a care package of all things. I mean a care package? It feels like we are sent by a over caring mother that's sending her children to their first day of school or something." they groaned as if they didn't like the sound of it. It was an attempt of making the man across of them laugh. And their efforts succeeded as Clive let out a small chuckle to his friends overly dramatic reaction over it.

"So what's been bugging you sunshine? Care to spill it for me?" they blurted. Wordless and kind of stunned by the sudden question toward him Clive looked at the winged one with wide eyes before they softly laughed at his reaction. 

"Clive please we lived together for years now I know you well enough when your inner detective is showing. And you've been looking and scribbling in that little notebook of yours for hours."

As the one with the wings pointed it out Clive just gave a small smile and went back to looking at the scenery outside the train. The lights from the moon shine though the windows as they went through the trail of tracks. The sky was well into the night as the stars sparkled in the sky all so heavenly. It was no doubt late but none of the passengers in the cabin seeked for sleep.

"What's on your mind then?" the one with wings genuinely asked as they were curious what was on their friends mind.

Clive's shoulders visually tensed a bit as they looked back at his friend. Something about his look was nervous and tense as he was about to talk about what he was thinking as he frowned a bit. "Something about all of this is all unsettling Vivian." he started and the one with wings just continued to be quite and listened into what their friend was about to say as they stroke the now sleeping bird on their shoulders.

"If what the two creatures said through the mirror is right, there is a chance that this isn't a job done alone by the beings in Wasteland. I'm pretty sure that someone is involved from our world is in all this. And judging how fast the the professor reacted to this problem it could involve..." he stopped as he looked more tense as he looked out the window. He didn't say it but Vivian knew who he was talking about without saying it. And with that they didn't say much and looked out to the peaceful night sky to take their minds off of the many things they were thinking about.

Now Clive started off a other topic to get his mind off his writing on his notebook as he abandoned it to the side of a small table that was near the bed. "So what do you think about this job we are taking in sake of being undercover?" as he said Vivian turned to see his face with a small smile. They seemed rather excited to be going back to Night Raven College after a long time.

"I mean it's just teaching a bunch of students and protecting a girl from a army of monsters. How hard can it be?"

As Vivian told what they thought Clive just gave a small sigh of a laugh as his friend looked at this situation all too optimistically(It wasn't really all too unusual for them actually he guessed as much). 

"I just wonder what kind of interesting tales will unfold before us."

Clive turned to look at his companion from the side as they told him so. As much like their wings in the dark night their eyes slightly glowed with interest as they looked out to the scenery outside with a smile. Even for Clive who was a close friend of Vivian he couldn't really tell what they were actually thinking as they continued to look outside with a glint of pure interest in their eyes.

_It would only take them days before they could reach to Night Raven College_

* * *

**(Author's Note: I was really hurt by the insult that Riddle gave us in chapter 1-22. Well I do understand why and what lead up to him to follow the rules that much but damn his words really hurt me when I played the game myself😭 Well with that aside I would like to thank everyone that has read this far into this story! I never really thought my writing was interesting enough to show in public but seeing everyone's comments gave me inspiration on keep writing and I can't thank you guys enough for that🥰 Next part will be a short little personal story between Riddle and Lyla followed by Deuce and Ace with one side story in between. As it will be short stories they will be posted much faster than the last ones. Thanks for reading through this readers!)**

[ **My Tumblr Blog** ](https://lets-start-writing.tumblr.com/post/632772868916330496/welcome-to-main-lobby-of-the-archive-of-many)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where there is kindness there is goodness, and where there is goodness there is MAGIC  
> -Ella's mother(Cinderella 2015)


	10. Riddle Rosehearts(Personal story)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Back with a personal story between Riddle and Lyla for today. In sake of avoiding some spoilers for the new oc’s that were introduced in the last chapter their profiles will be posted in my tumblr blog when we get back to the main story after one personal story and one short side story in between. Hope you enjoy it!  
> (Edit 2021/2/25 Hey everyone! Edited the notes to let you guys know that this fic now has a cover art!🤩😊🎉 The first chapter was edited to have the image if you want to check it out! Also the process of making the image was posted on my tumblr blog if you want to see it. Future chapters will open with the new cover art from now on.)

Title: A Tyrant No More

**A two days after the overblot incident**

Nononono this was not it either Riddle thought as he crumpled the fifth apology letter he had been writing for the pass twenty minutes or so. Landing the paper to the trash bin beside him he groaned in frustration and rubbed his temple with the jumble of words he had to think about.

“This is going completely nowhere.” He mumbled as he leaned his forehead to the wooden board of his desk. His usually neat desk was scattered with crumpled papers with half written letters for the prefect of the Ramshackle dorm. Ever since the overblot incident regarding with the sudden monster attack his mind wasn’t put to rest about apologizing to Lyla. Yes he did manage to give a verbal apology to the girl when he was back to normal that day but he felt that just one wasn’t enough after how badly he had treated her. The continuous restless thoughts resulted in putting together a direct letter of apology. But it didn’t go as well as he anticipated at first.

Sighing from his chair Riddle averted his tired eyes away from the crumbled papers from his desk to look outside of his window. Pulling the crimson colored curtains away from his line of sight he could see a glimpse of the rose garden from his window. There the students of Heartslabyul were helping in restoring the maze to its former glory after his overblot(as well for the other monsters have caused as well). Students were busy at every corner some were carrying new tea sets and supplies for the table as others were helping painting roses or taking care of animals for the croquet game. Where he could see from he saw Ace and Deuce coloring roses with their magic as Lyla was just hand painting with a brush by the side. Few of her monster friends were helping as well. Greg and Grumpy were working on painting roses with Lyla as Grumpy was the one supporting the latter that Greg was on as Greg was the one to carefully brush every rose red. It went smoothly before Sneezy sneezed right beside Grumpy making him jump with the sound. A disastrous chain of reaction came after that. Poor Greg was knocked over to the ground as the red paint bucket got over his head. Grumpy having been startled because of Sneezy started to chase after Sneezy as he started to run for his life from the angry spatter. Unfortunately, the two ran pass Lyla’s ladder hitting the leg supports as they didn’t realize. The impact made the ladder knock over as the girl yelped. But luckily a few Heartslabyul students(that noticed the racket with the monsters) came just in time to catch the ladder in place. From what Riddle could see from his little window Lyla seemed to be thanking the students as she looked relieved. Riddle could see the girl talking casually talking with the students of Heartslabyul the other students who gladly engaged to it. The girl seemed to be glad to talk as well as she smiled back as she talked with the other students. Riddle was surprised to see how much she was used to the school right now. With how she could make friends easily and how she freely went through her days in the NRC without worrying about rules it kind of made him envious. Envy. Maybe that was the reason why he was so harsh on her on the first place when he thought about it. Now he only regretted his actions on what he did.

“Riddle? Can I come in?” Trey’s voice came through the other side of his door. With the vice dorm leader’s voice from the other side Riddle hastily shoved the remaining crumbled papers that were on his desk below to the bin beside him as he panicked.

“You can come in!” he quickly said as he collected his cool as he re-positioned himself back at his desk chair. With that Trey had opened the door using his other hand as he held a tray of strawberry shortcake and a cup of tea.

Treading across the room to Riddle's desk he set the tray on the desk and put down the items as Riddle’s eyes sparkled with the treat. “You should be still in bed you know?” Trey worried. Riddle only shook his head and took the silver fork from the plate of the shortcake.

“I’m thankful for you worrying about me but you should know I’m not that fragile Trey. If I was I wouldn’t have been qualified as the dorm leader if so.” He huffed as before he took bite of the sweet treat the vice dormer leader had brought. Trey only cracked a small smile as his eyes went back to a pile of books. Approaching the desk that was piled with books his hands went behind a pile and reached out for something that was out of Riddle’s sight. To the dorm leader’s horror it was an unfinished letter he had failed to dispose of. Before Riddle could snatch away the letter from Trey’s hand he already scanned the words of the letter to notice it was an apology letter that was addressed to the girl that was outside the gardens helping. Trey just let Riddle snatch the letter from him taking in no effort into trying to hold on the letter as if he just held it out for him to take with an amused smile as he crossed his arms. Riddle face was red. Not from anger but with embarrassment.

“You were writing an apology letter to her?” Trey asked as he looked at his childhood friend start to flush with embarrassment at he mention. Riddle refused to make eye contact as he looked at the ground. It was the first time Trey saw him so flustered over something like this. He almost gave off a snort over how Riddle was serious over the letter but he spared him of the embarrassment.

“It’s just that I was having trouble with the words that’s all.” Riddle huffed as his cheeks puffed out sulking.

“Maybe if you can’t think of words you could express it in a different way.” Trey suggested.

Riddle only tilted his head out of confusion over what he said. “What do you mean by that?”

* * *

Lyla stood out in the entrance of the Ramshackle dorm with wide surprised eyes as she gripped the door frame open. She was half expecting it to be Ace or Deuce by the door on their frequent (sudden)visits when she heard the door being knocked. She didn’t expect the dorm leader of Heartslabyul dorm to appear on her door step first thing after she had breakfast. Creaking the door more open Lyla saw Riddle neatly well dressed for the start of the day. It was fairly early before another college day was about to start which it made it more unusual for him to be there.

“Hey Riddle.” Lyla managed a greeting toward the dorm leader. He seemed awkward as much as her as she bit her lip as she thought about on the reason on why he must be here

It was not like she had bad blood with Riddle anymore. He did apologize and made it up with her after the overblot thing. But it didn’t make it anymore awkward to be suddenly acting like friends with him. She only knew little about him and he did as well. Just as he was about to open his mouth he was interrupted by a crashing noise followed with voices at the end of the corridor of the Ramshackle. Closing her eyes and frowning with the sound behind her she looked back at Riddle with a apologetic look.

“Sorry, excuse me for a moment.” The girl calmly said before she turned and closed the door just a tad bit. More crashing noises occurred after she left Riddle awkwardly hanging by the door.

“Knock it off you guys! Grim I said to be nice to the new guys that just came in! And you guys! I said to put those buckets down in the house! I don't want you hurting anyone with that!” after the girl shouted those words all became quite as it was before. Opening the door back to greet Riddle once more Lyla had a tired look on her as she rubbed the spot between her eyes with the exhaustion to contain the situation.

“Crowley made me in charge of those monsters that turned good back in the maze.” She managed to explain as she looked in the back as she shook her head. She turned back to Riddle with a patient smile.

“So what did you want to say again?” she asked.

Ok this was the time. Hoping for no more interruptions he finally said what he was meant to say ago.

“I wanted to invite you to the Heartslabyul dorm today after classes.” Riddle said. He felt nervous not sure if the girl in front of him would accept the offer. He only hoped that Trey’s advice would work. “As an apology for how badly I treated you I want to invite you for tea at the dormitory if you have the time.”

With Riddle’s sudden invitation for tea Lyla was taken back. She stood there silent for a solid second before she could muster an awkward answer.

“Oh... ok?” she managed. “But you don’t really have to Riddle. You already apologized back at the maze after all.”

Riddle shook his head and looked at the girl straight at her eyes. He seemed determined to give an apology Lyla thought.

“Please I want to give a proper apology. And if you allow it we could start over. As friends I mean.” Riddle said that last part as he once again averted his eyes to anywhere else where he couldn’t see her. He could feel his cheeks burn up again with embarrassment. And it seemed like his earnestness paid off as Lyla gave off a small smile.

After that they agreed to meet up at the mirror chamber that lead to the dorm soon after class.

* * *

After hearing about the invite to Heartslabyul dorm from Riddle Grim wasn't all that sure about going at first. He still had a grudge about Riddle after the first time they met and after that time they had bumped into him outside the main school building. But he quickly forgave Riddle as soon as his eyes landed on the sweets that Trey had made for them(Lyla wasn't really surprised at that). Taking the invitation of having tea Lyla and Grim rather had a relaxing time at the Heartslabyul dorm lobby with Riddle as they had tea and sweet treats. The three talked about rather mundane things. School things, the Unbirthday party Lyla even got a chance to hear about the Rose Kingdom from Riddle to her delight.

Riddle had suggested on taking a stroll to the small area where they kept the hedgehogs after they finished their tea. Lyla agreed but the little monster refused and said he would just rather continue to eat instead. Leaving Grim behind Riddle and Lyla went outside of the dorm to take a stroll around the dormitory.

Now the two were near where the Heartslabyul dorm kept the hedgehogs. Walking toward to the cage the girl could see the multicolored creatures in the pen. She found it rather odd to see them in such variant colors as normally hedgehogs weren't usually bright pink or blue in her world but following the plot of Alice in Wonderland she made the conclusion to not question it. As the girl didn't take her eyes off at the creatures Riddle suggested something.

“Would you like to hold one?” he was rather unsure if she would agree. But the girl nodded instantly at his words.

He couldn’t really read her expression but Riddle just took her answer and opened up one of the pens for access. The two got in the pen and girl started to crouch down to her knees to see hedgehogs. Still Riddle couldn’t see how the girl felt about the hedgehogs as she didn’t seem to express any kind of emotion at the time. Or maybe he had hard time reading it if she was expressing something. He just quickly shook away the thought as he saw the girl extend her hand in front of her. Now Riddle’s eyes were now fixated at the blue hedgehog that was now in front of Lyla. The curious little creature was interested at the new presence and slowly approached the girl’s hand. The little blue hedge hog nose lightly brushed Lyla's fingers which felt ticklish. With a few sniffs of her hand the little creature deemed that she wasn’t a threat and started to climb on her hand. The girl froze up from the contact. Just as Riddle was taking it as a sign she didn’t like it he stopped as he studied her face.

The girl’s expression remained calm and collected but her eyes were telling a different story. Her eyes seemed to sparkle as she looked down at the small little blue hedgehog in her hands. Her hands were holding the hedgehog like she could break it in one touch. In other words she held it like it was the most precious thing she had saw in ever her life. Her interest in the little creature in her hands was just hard to tell at first glance. Riddle was kind of amused to see a new side of Lyla as he continued to look at the side as he crouched aside from her. “You can pet him you know?” Riddle talked out of the silence.

Snapping out of her awed gaze at the tiny creature in her hands the girls cheek started to heat up as she now realized she was spacing out due to her love of animals. Taking up on his words the girl started to stroke the little hedgehog in her hands as gently as she could. The little creature in her hands approved of her touch as it chirped in a happy tone. A smile formed on Lyla’s face as she began to coo at the tiny little creature in her hands. Her smile was started to be shown more as the hedgehog in her hand chirped more happily.

Riddle now knelt down beside her and began to tend to his own hedge hogs as he was starting to get tired of doing nothing. A green colored hedgehog came to his hands and he was happy to pet it while he was beside the girl.

“So how is the plans going along to redo the party?” the girl asked out of the blue as she rubbed the hedgehogs tummy.

“It’s going well. I do have to admit it is way less stressful than before.” Riddle replied honestly. Lyla understood why. A sad look now painted the Ramshackle dorm leaders face as she was reminded of someone back at her world. She tried to distract herself with petting the hedgehog in her hands.

“I understand I know how it’s like to have a strict parent.” She told Riddle.

Riddle turned his head and his face gave off a questionable ‘really?’ look as she could tell. She now put down the blue hedgehog(much to the little creatures disappointment) to tend to a pink hedgehog that was eager to get pets as well. The little thing began to playfully nibble on one of her fingers as the previous blue hedgehog started to climb into her lap for attention.

"My dad was pretty strict about everything. How I did in school, my grades, curfew time. Anything mainly to do with my 'future' that is. And I always thought how strict he was was for the the best for me." she continued. Now a few hedgehogs were now crowding in a line around her to get petted. She was now picking up a purple hedge hog that instantly demanded belly rubs.

"I didn't know how suffocating it was until now that I'm here." she said with a darken sad look on her face.

Hearing what she had told him at that very moment Riddle couldn't feel more bad about what he had said back at the maze before. He didn't know if it would have helped but he extended his hand toward the prefect and patted her on the back gently. It was something that his mother would do when he was under the weather to cheer him up. Feeling thankful for the encouragement she smiled toward Riddle showing thanks.

The girl shook her head and continued to tend to the growing line of hedgehogs that were waiting for affection. She now picked up a yellow hedgehog that squeaked happily when it was picked up on her hands. She didn't want her talk to dampen the mood after all.

“I think I’m going to have a talk with my dad if I do manage to go back home. But I doubt he would believe me if I told him I was teleported to another world by a magic sorcerer and that I got caught up in some world saving business or whatever.” She tried to make it light hearted as she could. Riddle was informed of much of what had been happening toward the girl. The letter from Yen Sid, the monsters attacking, an unknown force raising up to do who knows what. The purpose of the girl in front of him arriving to Twisted Wonderland was to help the sorcerer to fight off this evil beings that were to raise. It all felt crazy to him after he heard it.

“Why did you agree to help us anyway?” he purely asked out of curiosity of his own. With the question the girl pondered on give a proper answer to his question. She had wondered herself after she had agreed to Crowley the day he had told her about the letter. She could have just asked for a way out of this but... looking down at her hand that was stilled bandaged from the previous fight with the monsters she got a clear answer about her actions.

“I... As much as I want to go back home I just can’t leave.” She answered as she looked down at the yellow hedgehog that was tilting its head toward her. She gently let the hedgehog down to let the little creature go back to the ground. She saw the little thing scamper away before she could answer to Riddle again.

“I just don’t want to see anyone hurt because of all of this crazy stuff. And if I could help helping would be the right thing to do right?” The girl said as she massaged her bandaged hand as well as look down her waist to see the magic paint brush that was on a chain on her pants.

* * *

_**A day after** _

The day of the redo of the Unbirthday party came. It was pretty much the same as the past Unbirthday party but the mood of it was much cheerier. Riddle was as well. A mouse was missing from a tea pot but he didn’t make a fuss about it(for the other students relief). Everyone was dressed for the occasion. Even Lyla, Grim and the monsters were in dress of the event. Lyla wore a blue dress that was the same as the one in Alice in Wonderland finished off with white stockings, black mary jane shoes, and a hair band to match. For Grim he got a white and red ribbon and for the monsters that followed each spatter Greg, Grumpy, Hungry, Sneezy and Sleepy they got red and white bow ties.

“Looks like your dressed for the party as well prefect~”

“If you tease anything about the dress just know that I'm not helping you on the next pop quiz ok?" Lyla plainly said as she sat next to Ace at the table that was set with fine tea pots and tea cups. Before Ace could say anything more Riddle cut in.

“If you would like I would gladly collar him if he is bothering you.” Riddle pitched in between them. Ace was taking Riddle seriously but Lyla already knew Riddle was only joking on his part with the hint of playfulness in his tone.

“When did those two get friendly with each other?” Ace asked to Grim who was just munching away at a blueberry tart with no care from beside him.

Grim took a few more bites from his treat before answering in a mumbled voice over the chewing “Since yesterday.”

The Unbirthday party went smoothly after that. Memories were made and Lyla had an opportunity to use her ghost camera that didn't involve taking pictures of bullies for once. Cater was eager to take pictures as well. But they were for magicam purposes as he snapped away as much as he could.

The party was all smiles and laughs before the gang tasted Riddle's tart which he made for the party. Apparently Riddle took Trey's joke of using oyster sauce in the tart seriously than anyone which made Trey laugh with how seriously Riddle actually took it.

Lyla as well cracked a smile and got a good laugh despite the taste of the salty treat in her mouth. Apparently like just Trey anticipated all was well between with Riddle and Lyla for now. And it seemed like they could be great friends after all. And who knows? They might be good allies against the evil that is about to raise within the lands.

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"Vivi? How many days are left before we arrive?" Clive asked from his pool sun bath chair toward Vivian who was next to him reading a book. In his hands was a brochure of NRC stating various facts about the school that shown the map of the lay out of the school as well. He might as well get familiar with the layout of the school if he was to be on guard duty and as well work as a teacher undercover. Soaking in the warm rays of the sun on the boat to Twisted Wonderland Vivian was enjoying their time to try to relax on the boat after the long train ride they had to take across the land. But it was no telling that they were not on vacation as they already had an important mission at hand. It was that their boss can go over board with the price of transportation that's all.

"Just a week I think?"

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**[My Tumblr blog](https://lets-start-writing.tumblr.com/post/632772868916330496/welcome-to-main-lobby-of-the-archive-of-many) **

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Off with their heads!  
> -Queen of Hearts(Alice in Wonderland)-


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